ƸӜƷ•¨¯`•My Recuerdos•¨¯`•ƸӜƷ

Sunday marked one year since Por Por, my maternal grandmother, passed away. A year is really such a short time. It doesn't feel like a year but it has been.
My family came down to Klang from Ipoh because my aunts,uncle and mum decided to hold a memorial service for my grandmother.

I'm not going to go into detail but just wanted to share some of the little happenings of the day.
So early that morning we went to the graveyard to lay some flowers on her tombstone. We were walking up the slope when the cutest sight caught our attention:-I don't know why but there are dogs roaming the graveyard and one decided to start a family there. There were 7 puppies all huddled together in that little space. I snapped pictures of them on the way back after visiting my grandmother's tombstone. I don't know why but I felt that it lessen the grimness that that there was young life amidst the place of the departed. Just a thought that flitted through my mind.

It was quite a busy day with some mini upsets but they were all overcome and everything went more or less according to plan. Yoong and I had our hands full with our little cousins Ben, Rachel and Daniel. We were keeping them out of the way while the adults were rushing around preparing things. As usual they won't stay still for me to take pictures. But I really must show you what Daniel did with a balloon:-
He somehow decided that the balloon would make a comfortable chair and started bouncing ON it. He made all of us cover our ears. And I was trying to get him to give it to me but he just smiled and bounced more...

Lucky the balloon is of good quality rubber and Daniel's too light to burst it with his weight.



Haha!!I've never met anyone whose eyes literally light up at the mere mention of ice-cream.
I love sushi just as much. *chuckles*

(Unrelated to title)
I blame the hostel line.
For some reason I couldn't access the 'Edit Post' in Blogger even though I tried at different times of the day (another one of the hostel perks...the line is different speed at different times of the day) so here I am now, updating at my aunty's house using her blessed-ly fast wireless.

I am back in Subang in case anyone is wondering. I took the train back and it was totally ridiculous...It took me 3 hours of train ride to get from Ipoh to KL Central and a friggin' TWO AND HALF HOURS to get from KL Central back to Sunway College. Stupid bus. There I was with laptop slung over one shoulder, luggage bag pulling my hand out of its socket and handbag dangling from one shoulder, standing under the tree near the drain waiting for the bus. When it didn't appear after 20 minutes of sweltering, I lugged everything to the front of Carrefour and stood there. There were taxi drivers calling out "Amoi, Amoi..taxi!!!" but when I asked them how much to get back to the hostel I was quoted ridiculous prices. RIDICULOUS mark my words.

Call me stingy or whatever, I do NOT want to be taken advantage of. I was not going to pay RM10 to go back to Sunway when my cousin told me she paid only RM3.40 to take a taxi to Segi College (which is further) from the same place. WHY won't those drivers use their bloody meters??!!!!One even had the cheek to tell me that he normally charges RM15 but will 'generously' give me a 'cheaper' price. But anyway, the happy ending to my story is the bus finally came clanking up the street after I waited nearly an hour. I gratefully got into it and got back safely to my hostel entrance. And it cost me RM1.00.
Take that cheating taxi drivers!!!!

Anyway, I can't wait for the durian season to be over.
I know you're all reading this and aiming your piles of durian seeds at me. I hope your aim is bad.Haha!! Anyway, my parents were having durian fiesta at home:-
I will end with pictures which have more appeal to me:-

Yup,I came back on Thursday night.
Originally I was supposed to take the 9:30 p.m. intercity KTM train back; meaning I would have reached Ipoh at about 12 to 1 a.m. But the last minute, my dad (who was having a meeting in Shah Alam) decided to leave early since his meeting had ended and drive me back. So I reached Ipoh 2 hours earlier than the train.

Chrys was due to fly back the next day so later that night SzeHaw and I went and invaded her room while our parents were having their Cell Group meeting at her place. Took some random pictures. (CHRYS I want those pictures!!!)
At the moment, Chrys has already landed on Aussie soil and Sze Haw has gone back to Subang. Which leaves me the last person to leave. I am boarding the 9 a.m. train back tomorrow.

Before I end, some random things...
The trees in my home's back garden are thriving. Look:-

But they're good enough for me since I still absolutely refuse to carry a proper camera of my own around.


By the way, I'm going back to Ipoh for the coming weekend.
I'll be back on Thursday night.Going to come by train.
So looking forward to meeting CHRYS. (by hook or crook I'm seeing you so no escaping!!!!)
And also hoping to see Sunway Ipoh friends and old classmates I'm missing so much.
I wish I had more holidays..

*slaps self*
Only one week since class starts and I'm moaning.
Sheesh...get a grip Joyce!!!!

Back in 2002, when the announcement about the teaching of Mathematics and Science in English was made, I felt a mixture of approval and disappointment.

Approval, because I felt that it was a good move. One that would improve the English language proficiency among Malaysian students.
Disappointment, because I had just missed the opportunity to learn those subjects in English. I was among the last batch who was taught Mathematics and Science in Bahasa Malaysia.

Now, the Ministry Of Education has announced that thay are going to revert from English back to Bahasa Malaysia in 2012.
The reason being that students are yielding poorer results in the two subjects taught in English.
My main concern is what will happen to the level of English of our Malaysian students.

Speaking as a student who was taught all my subjects, except English and English for Science and Technology (EST), in Bahasa Malaysia, I can be called a sideline observer. I have watched while my juniors study those subjects in English and even helped my younger brother in his Mathematics homework at times. I believe that PPSMI policy was a good one but it is the general attitude towards it which has created all the problems. The implementation was maybe too sudden and the teachers were not very prepared for it, since most of them also came from the BM syllabus.

We Malaysians are very driven with grades. We revere strings of A1s. But is it over-glorified??
Now lets look at the English grading in SPM. My teachers used to tell us that 'very easy' to get A1 in SPM English but for GSCE (generally known as 1119,triple one nine) it is hard. I have never understood why we have to have two gradings. I got A1 in both gradings but I have friends who got A1 in the SPM English but a B3 in the GSCE. Why not just show the GSCE grade alone??Is that not a more credible result??

So how can the students do well in Maths and Science when they don't even understand the subject they are being taught in??? Even so, the solution is not to stop teaching in English. That is the step backward that we all should not be taking. Working towards improving English should be the aim. Well, I only hope during the time we have until 2012, they will develop and improve the teaching of the English subject in schools. And also do their best to improve the current teaching instead of letting all the problems continue just to prove themselves correct, that English yields poor results in those subjects.

I supported the PPSMI policy despite missing out on it because I felt that the use of English in those subjects would benefit Malaysian students when they leave school and pursue tertiary education; especially when they pursue professional courses or are sent to study abroad.
I am currently studying to achieve a professional qualification with the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA). After 2 and a half years in this course, I remain in no doubt that my reason for supporting PPSMI is justified. Being able to speak, read and understand the English language well gives you an advantage,better understanding and saves you from from having to flip through a dictionary too often. We're running a race in this world and being held back because of language limitations isn't a pleasant thing.

Please do not take me the wrong way. I am not against the national language. Not at all. I am proud to be able to speak 3 different languages, Bahasa Malaysia among them. But I feel we must not only know a language; but to know it well. Claiming that we are good in English but saying, "I am boring" instead of "I am bored" doesn't give us much credit. I know it is important to uphold the national language but we must strive to keep up with the rest of the world.

So please support the good use of English.

Sorry for the abandonment of my blog.
Classes have started and I seriously have NO TIME to do much.
My schedule runs thus.
Mind you,my class hours are from 8am to 6:15pm and the 45 minutes breaks in between periods don't count because lecturers determine the breaks and normally the breaks are few and short.


Anyway I'll just want to give u some random updates.

1. Say hello to my new baby:-

Hi...how's everyone doing???
I'm back in the hostel but classes don't start until next Monday so I'm basically at loose ends till then. What a change from being madly busy whenever I'm here. *chuckles*

My roomie, Yean Ting has moved out because she's completed the course and my new roomie, Yean Ting's sister, is moving in today. Actually she already came and put her stuff but I wasn't in so I have not even met her yet. Oops..I feel kind of guilty not being there to say hello.

Anyway, the reason I went out was because my parents came down to visit. My mum had a meeting in Putrajaya so they dropped by before they went home. They came right on time for lunch so I brought them to eat pan mee at Face to Face.We went to the outlet near One Academy and it was drizzling. Thank goodness for the free shuttler...

I'm afraid I didn't snap any pictures so I had to borrow some pictures from other blogs.
(Thanks guys...I hope its alright!!!)

I'm glad my parents enjoyed it. Do try it..its really nice and worth it.
So that was lunch and did some shopping before my parents went back.
Now I gotta run. Dinner with Louisa who's bringing me 'somewhere but she won't say where;just come.'

=.=