Dinner...

... at Ah Ho's last Friday.

Everyone is busy at this time of the year... getting ready for Chinese New Year. But it still didn't stop Ah Ho from organizing another dinner get-together; that despite she not having any help at the moment. This was a western... chicken chop with mutton sausages.

It was a small group but as usual, food was good. The gravy for the chicken chop doubled up as soup for me too. And I got to ta-pau the rest home. 8) Food always tastes better in good company...

These are Chinese sausages... they are homemade. George and Ah Ho have this gadget made from parts of an old ice-kacang grinder to pump the marinated meat into the tubes. I had fun the week before, turning the handles to stuff the meat into the intestines; so did my lil one when I dropped her off there while I went for a wake. These sausages definitely beat the commercially made ones; very, very little preservatives and lots and lots of wine to preserve and minus the ever sinister red colouring, hence the fragrant smell when you steam it. 8)

The Rise of the Fourth Reich by Jim Marrs

Interesting book this one... but not your regular fix of fictions.... and it took me super long to finish it, almost a month. In between I read Sold about Zana Muhsen. This makes it 3 books so far for 2010. Not too bad, considering I told myself I would read at least one book a month. 8) First Reich - the Roman Empire, Second Reich - the period created by Bismarck, Third Reich - Hitler's Germany. The Fourth Reich here is supposed to refer to America, where a lot of Nazi science and ideology fled to in the aftermath of the collapse of the Third Reich.

If you buy all those conspiracy theories about everything, this one will go down well. It talks about the conspiracy that goes on to control the world throughout history. Guess what, Communism was actually supported by American industrialists like the Rothschilds, Rockefellers, etc... Then when they found it too hot to handle, they supported the National Socialism in Germany. The Nazis! Hitler's Germany plunged Europe into her darkest moment in modern history. The bankers, industrialists, weapons producers - all of them made a killing while lives were lost in the battle fields all over the world. These industrialists had their feet planted on both sides of the conflict. So, regardless of who won, they didn't lose! They still laughed all the way to their banks, fattened by the slaughter made possible by the weapons they financed!

Interesting to note that there is a belief that Hitler's goons set the Reichstag (Parliament building) on fire in 1933. Germany at that time was rich, cultured and peaceful. But that event set off another chain of events... and the 'Enabling Act' was passed to deal with the communist threat. Hitler became the Fuehrer and the rest is history. Now if you compare that to the 'cowhead' and 'torching of churches' incidents in Malaysia, there might be lessons for us in this sort of modus operandi. Incite hatred, bring forth deep seated fears that our way of life is being threatened, and suddenly everyone clamours to give up their personal freedom and rights...

Also, conspiracies after conspiracies... from space exploration to the water we drink to the transformation from homeopathy to allopathy, the dumbing down of us and our children by our education system.... seems to me like there're plenty of them. All the maneuvering for wealth and power. Plus selection and continuity of the superior race, annihilation of the weaker races and those perceived as threats. Every country has those bigots. We are no exception too. If Americans have the white supremacist thing, we have our own ketuanan concept. Same indignancies... lots of stuff in the book is believable cos it's the same thing that fuels all those bigotries and push for power - greed!

I'd give this a read....opens our minds up to possibilities and also not to be so naive. Money and power rule and there are many who will go great extents to achieve both.

And by now, my Ipod Touch is worth every single sen that I paid for it.... which gives me excuse enough to get an Ipad...LOL!

A different sort of instruction..

I taught Jovaynne for 5 years.... and for this short break while waiting for her results she volunteered to coach my gal in Mandarin and I get to tag along, meaning I get taught also. Never too old to learn from anyone. 8) It's a new experience, but something I will cherish, nevertheless.

It's nice to know that someone whose progress I've followed and had a hand in has come of age, grown and growing in stature. 8) So, here I am, a teacher being taught by my student now... a different sort of instruction, one that is helping me move along in my Mandarin. LOL! And oh yes! The few occasional badminton games which we still squeeze in here and there plus the makan-makan time. I count my blessings and these are among them...

Retirement...

Today another boss retires... I've witnessed a few; including colleagues.

Do all bosses deserve grand send-offs? It doesn't seem to matter whether you've been a good boss. Cos in the end, an unbelievably glossy picture will still be painted, even though sometimes you feel it's like a script from a make-believe fantasy, one that makes you squirm in your chair when you listen to it. But most of us will say the most unbelievable things... sugar coated. Makes you wonder how believable they are during normal times...

Heads are important. An impotent head will render policies and institutions useless. There are good heads... there are bad heads. But in the end, both get the same send-off. You actually get rewarded for not doing your job. Great, isn't it?

And yesterday too, a colleague who applied to teach Form 6 found out that her application has not been successful. Of four who applied, 2 were given. One deserves it but the other... a 'sleeper' in class, one whose classes the students say they don't comprehend her teaching... well she's moving on... up, I mean. And my definitely more competent-than-this-particular-teacher colleague? She is staying put. No upward movement for her.

I dread to think how the F6 students will 'benefit' from the 'sleeper' teacher. Bosses... they are the ones who, to a large extent determine who gets to go where.... and these days so many factors come to play first... kulit-fication, bodek-fication, connection among others, heading the list first.

We're a compromised fraternity....

Sports...What Do They Actually Want?

This is supposed the time of the year when Sports Day is being carried out... that was until a sudden directive from the Education Department yesterday to postpone it to May; even though some schools have carried it out. (See how insignificant sports is these days, this is only the 6th week of schooling and for some, the sports season is already over) Apparently some of them had gone for a study tour in Australia, and were impressed by how sports is run there... the details given to us are sketchy.

Anyway, we've been told to push our sports later so as to give more time for students to get trained. That is so us, now. Instant reaction without much thought. Sports is dead in most schools, except for sports school like BJSS.

Picture this... sports practice. Students are warned that if they don't come, punishment will be meted; i.e. run round the field, caning, fines, etc. So, students show up. They are asked to run round the field once and sent home. That is how some sports practices are run now. And some teachers go for practice in their stilettos with attires to match.... looking ridiculously out of place. There are now very few teachers who were once athletes themselves during their school days.

And it's appalling how few teachers actually know how to teach proper techniques of throws, jumps, even baton passing! This despite PE being a core subject at teachers' trainee courses.

Once upon a time, they used to take in those with sports inclination for the teaching profession. Then they switch policies and took in those who had no where to go... And when the teaching profession got a boost of 'better' service terms, the teaching courses suddenly became quite difficult to get in universities. However, years of emphasis of cramming to score at the expense of games and other co-curricular activities took its toll... Not forgetting too the teaching profession generally is no longer appealing for those who are more talented...

In my last few years, I've come across trainee teachers who sit in the classes and teach, sleep with their saliva drooling down in the staff room, etc, etc.. There are still some exceptional ones but these are generally far and few.

So Sports Day to be delayed so as to give students more time to be trained.... I think it can be a good thing. But the system is too rife with the shortcomings of our own doing to have it actually work.

And the biggest joke is probably this.... the MOE has slashed more than RM4.5 million from the annual MSSM budget. This year we're only given RM1.5 million for the running of games and sports. Last year's budget was RM6 million! You can read more here and here. Many games and sports events are being cancelled! And the biggest joke is even squash has also been axed. We've the World No.1 women player, Nicol David and it is being axed. LOL! Most of the Under-15 events are also in the same situation. Talk about training the next gen of athletes, or even a holistic education...

As a friend of ours was saying... sometimes it's hard to justify why our kids need to go to school when they feel they don't need to. School sometimes seems to do the harm that it's supposed to overcome in the first place... we continue to be dumbed down by poor leadership, planning, double standards, lopsided assessments, excessive paperwork.... and increasingly, uninspiring people.

Fried Porridge @ Fong Ting Siew, Serdang

This was something new to us... fried porridge at Serdang, near Kulim. We were meandering our way home after Taiping through the Federal Route decided to give this a try....

The exact location of the shop...

This is the shop.... it's hard not to miss it cos it's just beside the road.

And as were waiting for our orders, I saw this on the wall... all the 'famous' people who have eaten here and also the newspaper cuttings, their accolades. We waited for our food in anticipation.

This is the 'fried' porridge. It doesn't look appetizing, does it? Anyway, we dug in. The first mouthful was kinda spicy. Then all the flavours start to find their way thru. We could tell that a lot of dried shrimps are used... the fried dried shrimp signature smell was there. There're also plenty of bacon, strips of meat, spring onion... it's a different porridge experience... 8)

Ribs with shredded ginger and other stuff... the meat was a little over fried, I think. But still, they were tender enough.

The fish that we had... by the time this came, we knew we had over ordered. This is small time Serdang, where portions are generally still quite big. We also ordered a plate of veg to go with the porridge...

My little girl was surprised to see this...

She didn't know that cotton grows on trees... and she was quite amazed to see this cotton pods growing on the trees. LOL!

And her Papa went around collecting a small bagful for her to take home to show her friends...

Off The Beaten Track...Matang, Kuala Kurau

After the zoo, it was back to the hotel for some rest. It's nice to be able to bathe and rest a while. Not so tiring. A bath makes all the difference sometimes... Then it was off to cari makan. We drove round a bit, but ended up at Larut Matang Hawker Centre. This kuih stall has been there for as long as I can remember and their kuihs are still very nice. We had chicken rice and our gal had her usual dried wantan mee. Both of us had our rice from different stalls. Other Half's was better than mine. The wantan mee was nice... I'm beginning to think wantan mee in Taiping is nice generally.

Then we went back to the Lake Garden area to try find Mr. & Mrs. Tan Yee Ho's place. Mrs. Tan was our MYF Counsellor, while Mr. Tan was my Econs teacher in F6; he's pastoring a church in Taiping now. It's been 4-5 years since I last saw them. We managed to find the house without much problem... with the GPS' help. It's good to see them again.

We did not take the highway home. Instead we headed towards Matang. We thought of going to the mangrove forest reserve... but patah balik 3 km from the destination, after the unpaved road got even more uneven and bumpy. We'd probably have continued if we were in a 4WD. Anyway, it was just as well, cos we found out later that the place were were heading was right in the middle of the mangrove swamp.

We took the road up north and headed towards Kuala Kurau... Made a U turn for the bridge and these rather big prawns were being dried under the bridge.

This is the view of the 1.25 km bridge from below... from the looks of it, a half completed bridge. It's a beautiful place, idyllic fishing village. Apparently the bridge was supposed to be built at the cost of RM53 million but I read in another article the cost was RM80 million. Am curious how come it looks 'half' completed. It seems like it was planned with a 4-lane carriageway in mind. But now it only has 2. Ah! Well, this is my country, where costs keep escalating, but quality and quantity usually heading the opposite way.

In the middle of the river you see all this kelongs and houses that jut into the river. I could hear banterings from the houses which 'hung' over the river... We'll be coming back to this place again. The Kuala Gula Bird Sanctuary, one of the biggest bird sanctuaries in Asia is somewhere nearby... am already making plans. 8) It's nice to wander off the highway a bit and have our sense of wonderment ignited a little.... so here's to jalan-jalan Malaysia, my memang beautiful country... LOL!