ORGANISING EARRINGS

See how neat and organised my earrings are in the above photographs.  When I moved house, I had simply placed the earrings into containers and boxes and they were in a mess.  When I bought my new cupboard and was contemplating on how to organise my accessories, Kamariah suggested that I buy decorative stick on hooks and hang them up.  It was a great idea.  Now my earrings are neatly organised and easy to find.  

BRINGING OUT ANOTHER SIDE OF ME

This is my good friend, Mr Ishak Salasa.  He and I have been colleagues for 15 years.  He was one of the first few teachers who was very helpful and friendly when I first set foot in the school.  Actually I am very comfortable in his presence.  The pictures below would attest to how comfortable I am around him.  Whenever he takes photographs of me, he brings out another side of me.  This is not really a bad thing as the pictures become more interesting.

In the last two pictures, you see Ishak and me.  He is really a gem of a friend.  Once when I fell ill at the school workshop, he quickly sent me to the hospital.  When I got back from the hospital, he fussed over me and made sure I had my lunch after he learnt the reason why I felt faint was because I did not have enough sleep and also had not eaten since the previous day.  When my old house was burgled, he and another colleague rushed to my aid.  When the fuse box of my new house was spoilt and the place was plunged into darkness, he was also one of the friends who went to my house to help.  He has proved to be a friend indeed whenever I am in need.

WHAT BRINGS HAPPINESS TO ME

I am a teacher by profession now.  When I was in school, I had never thought of making a career out of teaching.  No - not for me.  I had dreamed of being a journalist or a pilot but never a teacher.  However, I ended up being a teacher instead. 
Know what?  I grew to love teaching and enjoy the work.  I guess some people who read this blog might be wondering why I blog so much about my work, my colleagues and my students but not about happiness.  Well!  I wish to say that working in school and teaching in school are what bring happiness to me.  Therefore, I am not veering away from the topic of this blog.

** In the above pictures, I am carrying out an Information Skills class with my students.  They were reading the blog posts that I had done for the school blog, Vokasma today.  Interested to visit the blog, then go to http://vokasmatoday.blogspot.com/

MY DUTY AS THE RESOURCE CENTRE SUPERVISOR

For a good many weeks my concentration was on the renovation and repair of my new house so that I could move in at the end of September.  It was because I spent so much time on the house that I had delayed getting the blazers, ties and name tags for my Form 4 librarians.  Now that I have already moved in and most of the work have been done for the house, I made sure that my boys and girls got their uniforms.

Today I got both the Form 4 and 5 librarians together for a photography session.  Don't my boys and girls look smart?  Actually the Form 4 girls were supposed to be wearing a necktie with shirts but since they were given such a short notice to wear their uniforms, they had to make do with their Baju Kurung. 

After the photo session, I had a meeting with the Form 4 librarians to plan the Year End Gathering for the resource centre.  We will be having it at KFC Restaurant in Lumut.  These students would be running the show come 11th November.  They were also given the task of coming up with the third edition newsletter for the resource centre.  See, I have gotten back into the swing of things and am able to carry out my duties with full concentration.

GANDARUSA (JUSTICIA GENDARUSSA BURM. F)

The Gandarusa plant in the Herb Garden of my school was uprooted by someone.  I guess he or she thought that it was a wild plant and so decided to remove it.  Little did he/she know that this is a special herb I keep in the garden for two purposes, one as a herb and the other as a protection against evil spirits. 
The roots of the plants can be used to treat  arthritis, yellow fever, rheumatism, cough, boils, constipation and diarrhoea.  The leaves are used to treat boils, skin problems, arthritis, backaches, fracture and asthma.  The whole plant when boiled can be used to treat swellings, paralysis of the face, headaches, phlegm and others.
The village folks use the Gandarusa as protection against spirits.  The branches of the gandarusa with black twigs is usually brought along into the jungle as protection against disturbance from spirits.  The leaves are also placed under the pillow when one sleeps to ward off evil beings.  Having the plant in the garden would serve as protection from spirits.
I managed to buy another Gandarusa plant from the Farmer's Market and my students helped me to plant it in the Herb Garden.  By the way, I have a pot of Gandarusa plant in front of my house as well.

SPRUCING UP HERB GARDEN

This evening, the Form 4 librarians, Puan Asiah and I were busy sprucing up the Herb Garden because we are expecting visitors from another school tomorrow afternoon.  The weeds were pulled out and the rubbish cleared.  Lastly, the plants were given a good watering.

In Feng Shui, it is believed that clutter effects ones health and general wellbeing.  Clutter in the home and workplace drains ones energy.  Therefore, one should always make sure that the home and workplace are clutter free.  This also includes the garden and the porch area.  A neat and clean garden would add to the energy of the place.  Besides, my students benefitted from the exercise and fresh of the garden.  Of course, they felt energised after working in garden.  Now, that is what Feng Shui is about.

PAINTING THE OUTSIDE WALLS

The outside of my house has finally been repainted.  My three boys repainted most of the walls this afternoon.  It took us less than 2 hours to get everything done and also to clean up the place.
Now there are only a few nooks and corners inside the house that need to be touched up and then the paint job will be done.  I can do that myself during the school holidays.  Perhaps, my Aunty Linda will come and help me as she does a great job at painting. All I need to do is treat her to a seafood meal at a restaurant at Kampung Cina.  My boys prefer fast food instead.

THE COLOURS OF RANGOLI

I saw a few of the staff at Econsave in Sitiawan busy making a colourful Rangoli for Deepavali.  This reminds me of the Rangolis I made with Sharveen when he was a student in the school I am teaching in. Sharveen told me that the Rangoli brings good luck to the household or the premise.

The first year, he dyed rice of different colours to make the Rangoli for the library. In the picture below, you see the Rangoli done by Sharveen and me.

Unfortunately, the children of one of the teachers in my school who came with their mum destroyed it. In a few minutes the children messed up what took as whole day to complete.  You can see the pictures of what happened to the Rangoli below.

Sharveen and I were devastated. The Rangoli took the two of us plus other students and staff a whole day to make. However, I came up with the idea of using flowers, leaves and seeds to create another. With the help from my assistant and librarians, we came up with the one below.

The following year, we made a 1Malaysia Rangoli using a few types of grains.  Hmm ... shall I come up with a Rangoli for Deepavali this year?  I will ponder about it and see if I have the time.

FACTS ABOUT THE RANGOLI

Rangoli is a Sanskrit word which means a creative expression of art through the use of color.

The word rangoli may also have come from "rang" (color) + "aavalli" (row), which means row of colors, or from rang+avalli, which means creepers of colors.

Rangoli is the art of drawing images and motifs on the floor and walls of one's home using different colour powders.

Basically a floor painting, a rangoli image stands for a sign of welcome.

A variety of ingredients are used to create a Rangoli. In old days, the colours were traditionally derived from natural dyes - from barks of trees, leaves, indigo, etc. Today however, synthetic dyes are used in a range of bright hue.

In south Indian states like Kerala, flowers like marigolds and chrysanthemums and leaves are used to create Rangoli.

Source: http://www.theholidayspot.com/diwali/rangoli.htm

A LOT OF WORK

The bamboo plant above is worth a few hundred ringgit.  Well, I guess the florist has taken into account the painstaking work needed to fashion the bamboo into the shape of a container and also crisscrossing them. This is something that might take at least a couple of years to achieve.
The Chinese buy it to be placed inside their homes for good luck.

REPAINTING

 Farisha and Afiq look on as Abang Izzulis paints the wall.

 Razin helps to do the touch-up after Izzulis paints the wall.

Mior is wiping off the paint that had dripped onto the tile.

Cleaning up the extra paint

Touch up

The painter

Razin and Mior waiting for Izzulis to finish painting

The walls outside my house needed to be repainted after the repairs by the housing development company and also the renovation work done by the contractors for the electronic gate, the grille and the tiles.  

Izzulis volunteered to help me do the repainting and his two friends, Razin and Mior came along to help as well. We started only at 5.15 p.m. today as we took some time to look for a shop that sold the paint needed.  We had to stop at around 6.15 p.m. as Izzulis had to go and pick his sister up from school and the two other boys needed to go home.  Actually a lot of the walls were already painted even after only one hour.  Tomorrow, they will come and help me complete the painting and then we will all go and have a meal at KFC Restaurant.