today was a good day...

i find that i am bipolar when it comes to teaching. there are some days that are just awful and i think to myself, "man...i never wanna be a teacher." and then there are those days where i think i'm an awful teacher...and then there are days like today where i think to myself, "i can do this...it's not too bad."

my kids are getting really into their animal unit - they can tell me about all the characteristics of a mammal & an insect and can tell me the difference b/t herbivores, omnivores, and carnivores. the live mealworm pets we have in class have also changed into beetles and they are super psyched about that! they've been playing these animal games in their free time so they can sort and classify animals according to their characteristics. and my lesson where i taught them explicitly how to label, name, identify, look for key words, and match have really gotten them going on their animal centers...i can't be more proud of my grade 2s!

like when we had our Smart Board lesson today where i had students model & demonstrate what to do for the computer center, the kids knew all the questions to the website game!!! it's so satisfying when i see that my students learn and absorb the material. i almost want to stay past my one month block because i know that i won't be able to finish my math, language and science units by next thursday. it's going to be really difficult for me to leave this class because i've grown so attached to them...

i'll probably post a sobful entry next thursday about me leaving them... :(

3 more weeks and i'll be done...

so i've finished one week of my block and i have three left to go. and just my luck, i have fallen prey to simon's deathly illness. i have a painfully sore throat, a mild fever and the runny nose. i refuse to take any days off from my block because if i do, that'll simply mean i'm delaying the end date. sooo what to do what to do?

on top of that, i can't wait to be out of this house. really, i cannot wait to move out and start my life in hamilton attending mcmaster's. i am 24 years old and much too old to live under the tyranny that is my mother. i find myself going crazy because of her. i think i'm slowly going insane....

a Saturday night spent like I had no school...

i watched ninja turtles today. afterwards, we watched 300. TMNT was cheesy but it had its funny moments. 300, on the other hand, was awesome. besides the gore, it was truly awesome.

Jenn's Terms of Endearment...

While some have the gift of poetry, or gift of words...I find that mine are rather limited. Not that I mind at all. I think that my lack of enthusiasm for lovely dovely stuff might stem from my cultural heritage. While I am a sentimental person and can appreciate expressions, or acts, of love, I generally appreciate these things in private.
And my appreciation also comes with a limit for cheesiness...as my friend Steven Braga often says, "That's SOOO friggin' gay man."

These are phrases that I use when I am expressing gratitude, appreciation, or love for someone.

1. "I like you"
2. "You're SOOO funny..hahhaha" or as Steve often hears it, "You're funnier than (x)"
3. "You're so _______" (Insert nice, great, cute, sweet, etc in here)
4. "Awww..thanks. You're the best!"

and my most often one....."Ken, I like you."

about my friend daniela...

my friend daniela is sooo loud....

she is the bossiest and most abusive person i know...

today she flicked/slapped my forehead for no apparent reason at all and then our friend karen dropped her mouth open in shock. i was stunned too...

and then yesterday my friend daniela grabbed a bottle of orange juice from my hand claiming that it was hers when i clearly took it for myself first....naomi was a witness to this event...

and on monday i found out that latinos have different rules for turn-taking in a conversation...which might explain my friend daniela's behaviour....

ALSO I SHOULD ADD THAT YESTERDAY WITHOUT ASKING, DANIELA PULLED THE CHARGER OUT OF MY COMPUTER AND PUT IT INTO HERS!!! (nice eh?)

so this is in tribute to my great PAL daniela...she is awesome!!

running around like a headless chicken...

ok, i think it's time for me to post something new up so those nasty pics of me are bumped down. anyway, just a quick question for all of you: at what points in your life have you felt the most stressed? and what do you do what you are stressed? is there a routine you do to alleviate the stress, or do you just run around like a frantic crazy person like me?


i had a breakdown this weekend cause i was just overswamped with stuff...with school, with FESA, with responsibilities, with my to do list, with work and with friends...it got to a point where i just went beserk and for half hour, i think i lost all sanity. but usually that's not what i do: i usually run around my house all frantic, searching for things and yelling commands at simon to get me stuff b/c i'm in a rush...or i'll pull all-nighters with lots of coffee and stay up all night to finish my assignments. i think i usually handle stress well...don't you?

Painful Memories

Waking up this morning was a reminder of our 8 hour day of skiing yesterday. My leg muscles hurt, my bum muscles hurt, and my neck and elbow hurt...on the topic of being in pain, I was reminded about a time I had in Beijing. Look below.

Some Cultural Info about the Chinese

Hello my friends,

I've come today to share with you a little tip that will make your lives a whole lot better and your relationships with Chinese people a whole less tense.

And that is this: Chinese people, by nature, are truthfully honest...to the point that it's blunt and hurtful. This is a cultural endowment...however, the extent to which a Chinese person possesses this DOES depend on whether they're recent immigrants. With increased time spent in Western culture, this quality does tend to diminish.

I warn you of this friends because though I am of Chinese descent myself, there are times when EVEN I am offended.

Scenario 1:
I bumped into Adam's mom a few months back. Before even saying hello, the woman greets with me a "WAAAAA...you've gained so much weight that I hardly recognize you." And then without so much as a greeting, she turns away and walks into church with her husband.

Scenario 2:
My dad and mom were talking outside my room this morning while I was still asleep. My dad had said to me last night, "Man, you're getting so fat...I can see it in your face." I ignored this comment of course as my parents frequently make comments of this nature to me. BUT, when I was asleep this morning, my dad said to my mom (outside my door): "Your daughter is getting fat." My mom disagrees to which my dad bursts into my room and yells, "NO. LOOK HERE. HER FACE IS A LIKE A LITTLE PIGGY'S!" He then walks away...and I remain sleeping in my bed.

These scenarios are nostalgic of my high school days where I had occassions of frequent break outs. My dear old Auntie Ibie would never fail to tell me at church on Sunday mornings, "WAAA Ying-Ying. You have a VERY big pimple on your face." Not only would she say this but sometimes she would actually point and say, "There's one right there."

A normal person when faced with these situations would go home and cry or go hide their face. But I of course have a thicker hide since I have grown up all my life to these kind of remarks. And I suggest that you begin to develop one too if you are to interact with the Chinese community at all.

Naomi's Shower...

Below are some pictures of the surprise shower we threw Naomi at Daniela's house on Sat. Feb. 10th.






It was a potluck so these are some of the fabulous dishes we had.






Here is another pic. Can you tell that I love food?










On the left is Naomi's mom. On the right is Lidia...we're laughing cause of the games.







The girls here are playing my laundry game - the test of whether you're housewife material.











Here Naomi is crying about the recipe scrapbook we gave her. (It contained all the meals we brought to the potluck).











Another game we played...it gets funnier.









Naomi's laughing here cause she has to put on some XXXL undies...maybe black wasn't such a good choice when we were at the dollarstore, D. She's wearing a black top.

























And....the final product....sexy bride, isn't she?






Unfortunately, after this event my camera ran out of batteries...so the world can't see the gorgeous wedding gown Krista and I made out of newspaper.

in tribute to a very speciial person...in celebration to the anniversary of his birth

Happy Birthday Ken!

Your friends and family love you dearly! :) Jenn

oh, my Grade 2s!

tuesdays are my practicum days, as many of you know. i returned this week after calling in sick the week prior...and it couldn't have been better. upon entering, one of my students says to me, "why were you away last week, ms. huang?" after explaining that i was sick, another student comes up to me and hands me a card that says "i miss you, ms huang."

it's moments like these that make me reconsider my decision to put teaching on the backburner. once again today, my host teacher hinted that it would be nice if i took over her room and her stuff next year when she's away on mat. leave. while i love the staff and the school, i don't think i'm ready to settle down yet...i'm scared that accepting such a position would make me complacent with my life here. i'll end up settling down and living the typical north american life.

it was funny but at lunch i had an interesting conversation with another staff member. he said that when he graduated, he had all these dreams about travelling the world but he ended up settling down with a nice girl, making mortgage payments and having children. even though his wife and him are both teachers and could find international work easily, his partner won't budge. similarly, i went back to my last host school (malvern) today (to get my principal's reference) and had almost an identical conversation with one of the teachers there.

so my determination to continue on with grad school and to work a few years internationally was confirmed. however, sticking with it will be the hard part. i'll just have to keep telling myself that i'm only 24 and that i have my whole life to teach and to settle down with whatever career it is that i choose...

but visiting malvern today made me a bit soft...i saw the little grade ones i had two years ago who are now in grade 3. they're simply adorable - my favourite student, osama, definitely has a soft spot in my heart...besides being the smallest boy (who was also the brightest kid in the class), his words on my last day made me tear. he said something along the lines: "ms. huang, THANK you for everything you taught us. i learned so much from you and i think you're going to be a GREAT teacher." He was only in Grade One at the time...GRade One!!! I'll never forget that kid. sigh. the joys of teaching sometimes.

Stop being a lurker...

In my recent visits to friends' blogs over these past few days, I've realized that we've all become lazy...we visit each other's sites and read the whole story but are too lazy to comment. We've all become lurkers!! I mean, this is okay to do when you're on a forum...like one of those gamefaqs or anime hits...but this is unacceptable for each other.

We're all friends...how is it that we're become lurkers for each other's sites? Don't we have even a small comment for each other's posts? Like, cool I like your picture. Nah, Naomi don't cry. Or Daniela, write shorter posts, damnit!! Where is the support? HUH?!!

Unmotivated...

Does anyone else feel highly unmotivated to do any work? Do you have this lax attitude like "I don't care anymore" and slack on your assignments and readings?

That's been my general feeling the past month. I really have to kick myself in order to produce some work. I am feeling a little sick of school, a little sick of work and a little sick of teaching. I think being unemployed would be the best thing right now. To be unemployed and to have no school would be awesome! I could just sit around doing nothing all day...do the things that I always want to do - make my scrapbook, watch some movies, read the newspaper, etc.

Really though, I think the remedy would be a nice long vacation where I don't have the guilt of unfinished homework hanging over my head. I'm not even enthused about beginning my new teaching career because I'm sick of pedagogy - I'm sick of having the same point driven into me...if I hear one more time about how we have to be accommodating and strive for learner-centered lessons, I'm going to karate kick that person.

You know, sometimes I think that maybe the cause of our self-centered and individualistic society is due to the fact we are extremely child-centered. I don't know another culture that focuses so much on the development of the child...or on the needs of the student. Back in the day, children were just left to help out in the fields of the farm or to play amongst themselves...and those kids turned out fine.

But ya, back to topic, I feel unmotivated. I keep saying that I just wanna drop out of school and be a bum.

Team 4 Reunited!!

after countless months of missing our fourth member, he's come back. only temporarily though :(. in any case, i haven't laughed so hard in ages. dinner at one of our regular chinese places was fabulous - we had fantastic food and some really good laughs....i haven't laughed so much in one night in a while (esp. through this period of deadlines and hell).

AND i've never seen ken laughed the way he did today. what happened was someone farted (LOUDLY) in the parking lot which startled this old chinese lady. she spun around and ken laughed in an manner unlike himself....it was a really good laugh for him. i can only demonstrate....so ask me next time you see me.

does soybean milk make you moody?

i've heard from sources elsewhere that soybean milk has high levels of estrogen...and consumed in large quantities can have effects on the individual. so i'm wondering whether moodiness is one of them. i've been having lots of extreme emotions lately...from apathy towards my school work to feeling really sad about ken leaving to feeling extremely tired throughout the day....

if it isn't the soybeans, then i think my symptoms can be explained as the tiredlessness and laziness of students in their last semester...a common experience, i hear. but anyway, does anyone know what the side effects of soybeans are? they do contain estrogen, don't they?

about being ridiculously tired...

i don't know what was wrong with me but i was so incredibly tired that for the first time in 8 years....i went to bed before 10. at first i refused to go to bed since i had eaten dinner just shortly before then (my mom has done a good job of ingraining into my head that sleeping after eating makes you FAT!). however, my substitute for going to sleep was lying down on the floor of my computer room on top of a file undernearth my head (acting as a pillow). it wasn't until my brother kicked me awake that i realized i fell asleep on the floor...

any sleeping stories, anyone? aside from daniela's experience of falling asleep while lying horizontally spread across stairs, and simon's falling asleep while standing up, does anyone else have interesting sleep stories? naomi, do you do karaoke chop kicks and punch ceilings while fast asleep?

making it through this semester...

since i had 5 mintues of free time before needing to go to class, i decided to organize myself and write in my agenda a list of all the things that i needed to get done. well, the task itself needed more than 5 minutes b/c there are just too many things needing to get done. i think it might be a better option for me to NOT think about what i have to do. i have yet to write my statement of interest for mcmaster; resume and cover letters for both the York Region and TDSB boards; three pending projects in my different classes; plan for my lessons; make a terrific lesson in which the principal of my school can come watch and be so amazed that upon ending the lesson, she'll offer me to write me numerous reference letters, or better yet offer me a job on the spot; visit the principal at my old school to talk to her about being my reference. also, i'm behind on all of my readings...and then the money that sits in a mess in the safe at the office is needing for me to organize before this saturday, cause who knows what kind of mess it'll be in after this saturday. GULP. sigh.

i sorta feel overwhelmed...but this has always been my life. balancing work, school, extra-curriculars and my ridiculously cute boyfriend that comes to visit me on the weekends...so cross your fingers and wish me luck. i think i might need to quit my job in order to make it through this hellish/busy semester...however, that's also not an option cause i need to save for the tour of south america that daniela and i are planning to go on.

moral of the story? cross your fingers AND YOUR TOES for jennifer hy.


(to make myself feel a little better i've attached a picture of my ridiculously cute boyfriend here)

are people born balanced?

my friend myda and i once had a conversation about being balanced people. she believed that if someone was born beautiful, that they would be lacking in other areas. other areas might include intellect, character, inner beauty, etc. it was her way of making the world fair...that people be borned balanced. at that point in time, i disagreed with her. i'm not so sure anymore.

what do you think? please tell.

Friday Morning Classes

each and every friday morning that i am in class, i question the usefulness of attending my 8:30 education class on friday mornings. my eyes are glazy; i'm still half asleep; i have that burning contact feeling in my eyes; and i'm struggling not to fall asleep at this very instant (the only thing keeping me from falling asleep is writing this post). having to wake up at 6am when you only fell asleep 3 hours ago is not fun. i can't even tell you what we're learning in this class. most education classes are like this...hardly anything useful is taught. i usually enjoy theoretical education courses but every single year that i've had a foundation class, i find it a huge waste of time.

everything in this faculty seems so disorganized. there is no communication between our professors and our APs. we have book talk presentations in class next week and apparently it was up to our responsibility to invite our APs. however no one did this cause we all thought that the job of the course director is to communicate with the APs. sigh. i hate friday mornings....i could be asleep in bed right now.

Ken is the GREATEST!

I just want to dedicate this post to Ken. There are many times when I feel like announcing to the world about his great attributes however, I usually manage to suppress these urges. In any case, I just wanted to reiterate: Ken is great!

Why? There are too many reasons to list. Cause he's so nice to me when I'm tired and moody and cry for no reason. Cause he feeds me food knowing that I love food...and he usually takes me out for Chinese food knowing that it's my favourite. And then I also think Ken is the greatest cause we're so much alike. Like whenever I feel like a social reject, I confess this to Ken and somehow he makes me feel better by telling me similar experiences he's had. And then we're alike in terms of other things...like we're both homebodies. We prefer to stay home and bum around to watch movies or play board games rather than going out to party with our friends. He's also super supportive of my goals and ambitions...I tell him I want to rule the world and he agrees with me. hehe...just joking but I tell him that I want to travel and study and this and that, and he never disagrees. He's also super great when it comes to reasoning with me when I'm being really unreasonable. Sometimes I get really upset over nothing and Ken just takes my abuse. This is not to say that he doesn't abuse me but not as much, I don't think. thanks Ken.

So, here's to Ken!! :)