Those were the Days

All in the Family

From 1986 to 1993 or so, we served in the office of the then Minister of Housing and Local Government.

At Mr and Mrs Chen's house

Besides me, there was Joyce, Mrs, Chen, Cheng, Chen and Amarjit.

Good times

It was a memorable time.

Another shot with the late Mr Chen and Good Old Mrs Chen

My Grandma-Left Me in 1993

Fondest Memories

My memory is fading.

Hopefully not the way my grandma went.

My Granny sans memory

Overtime, she succumbed to Alzheimer's and we did have a tough time to keep her indoors.

She was wont to wander about and not getting home.

She passed on in 1993.

In life, she was a good, hardworking woman.

I adored her.

Salad Days at USM (1972-1975)

Start Out

These were my salad days at USM.

Getting into the Early Motions

Things have really changed.

Geronimo Days

Fate has dealt different destinies for all these players.

Days of Quiet Innocence?

For those who know us, have fun going down memory lane.

Home Away from Home

Gung-ho Aspirations

Bullies by the Numbers

Raring to Go!

Salad Days

Out into the Market

Post Career Travels?

Winsome Twosome

Friends in Perth

Malaysia is Home

Iskandar's Super Property Buyers

High End Landed Wealth

Yes, according to the Malaysia Chronicle (23 September 2013), three out of five buyers of the high-end properties in the Southern Johore corridor of the Iskandar regional townships are the Singaporeans.

They account for 74 per cent of purchases made at the various developments by non-Malaysians. Most Singaporean buyers are people who go to Johore frequently for business and those wanting a weekend home.

"They buy more of the upmarket products, as foreigners can only buy units (both landed and strata-titles) that are above RM 500,000 (S$195,000) in value.  This they can do with ease especially with the increasing value of the Singapore dollar day after day.

UEM Sunrise is the master developer of Iskandar's Nusajaya area. Its developments include East Ledang, a 111ha project with bungalows and villas and several condominiums at Puteri Harbour, Iskandar's mirror answer to Singapore's Keppel Harbour.

UEM data shows that Singaporean buyers usually outnumber all other foreigners combined. At the Imperia project, Singaporeans made up 39.1 per cent of buyers, eclipsing even Malaysians at 24.3 per cent. Foreigners of other nationalities made up 36.6 per cent.

At neighbouring condo Teega @ Puteri Harbour, 36.5 per cent were Singaporeans, 51.8 per cent were Malaysians and 11.7 per cent were of other nationalities.

It was also pointed out that a substantial proportion of non-Singaporeans who bought units in Iskandar have strong links to Singapore.

Many are Malaysians who live and work in Singapore, while others are expatriates or foreigners who visit often.

"These are people who travel to Singapore regularly for various reasons, like health care, education for their children, business and commerce or for lifestyle."

The high number of investors flocking to Iskandar has pushed prices up considerably.

For instance, prices of bungalows at UEM's East Ledang development have surged 44 per cent on average in the resale market since 2011. Even so, prices in Iskandar are still much cheaper than in Singapore and so continue to appeal to Singaporeans.

A 1,500 sq ft three-bedroom unit at the upcoming Marina One condominium in Singapore is likely to be "in the region of RM 11 million". For the same amount of investment, one can buy two swimming pool villas in East Ledang of 5,500 sq ft sitting on land of about 10,000 sq ft.

As they say, the world is a playground only for those who have money and the Singaporeans are leading the way by making Southern Johore just that.

As the song goes," Money Makes the World go Round."

How true!

Out of Africa-the 1937 African Memoirs of Karen Blixen

I Have a Farm in Africa

This is one gem of a movie.

It chronicles the life and times of Karen Blixen while in Kenya and how she lived and worked among the Kikuyu tribe.

Romance in the Kenyan Bush

Starring the screen greats, Robert Redford and Meryl Streep, you can see the spectacular vista of green of the Kenyan grass-lands from the air, by jeep and by train from Mombasa in Out of Africa.

Frolicking

The direction by Sidney Pollack is fantastic and the John Barry music score is beyond compare.

Sad memoirs but hauntingly memorable on film

Spectacular Sights via the Plane Flight

Great re-visit down memory lane.

The Apparition-Frightfully Tense

You Die Anyway

I thought it was the run of the mill horror flick. Poor and predictable plot-line.

But it was not to be.

In fact, if can shock you out of your shorts!

The suspense does not let up at all!

Messing up with so-called black magic and science, a group of college students inadvertently allowed a being from the other world,apparently Purgatory, to enter the human world and to cause untold disaster.

A short movie, it shocks as effectively as the first 'Poltergeist' movie!

Frightening-and the conclusion-the humans lose!

Charming

Ashley Greene, that sexy actress of the Twilight series, star as the eye candy.

Cannot Teach English!

Malaysia Boleh!

It appears that in Malaysia, teachers can be trained miraculously on an ad-hoc basis and then can be considered competent  to teach that subject to students.

All you need in some short term exposure courses and walla! Malaysia boleh!

This is apart from those that have formal training to teach English of which 70% failed miserably to perform.

Endless Possibilities!

 This first person reports of the inadequacies felt by some teachers is truly frigthening.

Read on!

While parents decry the low standard of English among teachers, some lecturers lament that they were “cheated” by the way they were trained.

Devi, for instance, chose to make teaching a career about eight years ago.

Her pride in graduating as a teacher quickly disappeared after her first few weeks in the classroom as she taught English to the students.

Devi discovered a significant gap in ability between her and them.

“Some speak much better English than I do, especially those from the better classes.

“It really affected my confidence,” she recalled.

“How can I teach these students when they know more than I do?

“I felt let down by my education and training; I felt so unprepared,” said Devi, who only opted to teach English while she was enrolled in her teacher training course, and appears to have quite a good command of the language.

“It was embarrassing at first when I mispronounced words and got my tenses wrong, and my better students corrected me.

“Now I look at it as a learning experience, and I just have to keep trying to improve myself,” she said.

Another is Zeti. With English not being her teacher training option, Zeti felt lost when she was asked to teach the language in her school.

“I can communicate fairly well in the language, but I’m definitely not trained to teach it.

“A few in-service courses here and there only helped a bit,” she pointed out.

“It’s really frustrating to hear complaints about how bad we (teachers) are when people don’t acknowledge the kind of challenges we face.

“I’m good at what I was trained in, but suddenly I’m expected to be an expert in another area overnight – how can I stay motivated?”

Meanwhile, experienced English teacher Gina opted to undergo a masters programme at a private university in the hopes of expanding her teaching skills.

“I wanted to learn more about the methodology of language teaching, but I didn’t feel like I was learning anything new. In fact, a short course I went for on my own time had more to offer.

“But how many teachers have the time to do this?

“It’s one thing to have a good command of English, but teaching is a different ball-game altogether.”