National Education 101: Deepavali Special

1) Deepavali is not Tamil New Year. Tamil New Year is celebrated on the 14th of April each year, and no it is not a public holiday because not all Indians celebrate Tamil New Year.

2) Deepavali is a Hindu Festival, not an Indian festival. (yes, there are Indians who dont celebrate Deepavali, most commonly because they are either Muslims or Christians/Catholics)

3) Indian describes a race whereas Hindu describes a religion.

4) Indians can be from various religious groups such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, bla bla bla, or even free thinkers. Hindus can be from different races, eg: Chinese Hindus, Eurasian Hindus, etc.

5) Tamil describes a language. Not a race nor a religion. (though in the Indian community, we often use in another context, classifying the subgroup of the community by asking for the class of language such as Malayalam, Hindi, Tamil, etc)

Let’s look at how race, language and religion can be used in sentences.

For example, “this Eurasian man spoke in Tamil.” In this context, the word Eurasian describes his race, and the work Tamil describes the language.

Another example, “this Indian man celebrates Hari Raya”. In this context, the word Indian once again describes his race and the word Hari Raya implies that he’s a Muslim.”

PS: no pun intended.

Enjoy the holiday tomorrow (except the O and A level kiddos, please study instead! you can have all the holidays you want after your exams!)

To all Hindus, Happy Deepavali!!!! Enjoy!!!

 

now you know why my desk is always messy!

Credit goes to the fellow who came up with these things and the person who bought CSL this gift.

 

 

perhaps we should give her more credit lah…

afterall,  she is able to read scripts pretty decently…

as long as more scripts are given to her, im sure she’ll be able to read them well in parliament.

 

Which Maid Agency to Choose?

This is just one of the spoofs going around….. im putting this up cos it really perked us up when we read it..

“I need your urgent advice about employing a maid. As a busy mother, I need someone reliable to help out at home.

My maid is from Profits Agency Pte (PAP) and she has worked for me for a long time. Her mother worked for my parents and did an excellent job, so I had faith in her. For several years her performance has been very good, but recently she has become arrogant and insensitive, and is making lots of mistakes.

For example:

1)     She flooded my kitchen –  she told me that the drain pipe has blocked (she was supposed to clear it once a month but didn’t). Then she assured me that it is very rare and won’t happen again in the near future. Guess what? It flooded again within a year!

2)     She didn’t close a window and my terrier dog escaped. I was so worried cos he is dangerous and could bite lots of people. After the incident, she didn’t apologise and just shrugged her shoulders saying “What to do, it has happened.” Fortunately my neighbor found the dog and we locked it up again.

3)     Without consulting me, she has been bringing in strangers for my house’s maintenance work. She says they charge low wages and keep costs down, but they eat my food, make a lot of noise and rest on my bed. I think they even tried to seduce my husband. It stopped feeling like my home, more like a cheap hotel, and I don’t always want to come back at the end of the day.

4)     When she first came to work for me, I instructed her to clean the different parts of the house at least once a week. But for some time she has stopped taking care of the bedrooms of PP and H; they are now dirty and messy. I asked why and she told me that the kids had been disobedient, so she was neglecting their bedrooms as a punishment (she has forgotten that she is paid to clean all the rooms).

Even though my maid has worked for me for many years and I value what she has done in the past, I think she is now getting complacent.  Her attitude is imperious and dismissive. She ignores my comments and basically treats my feedback as “noise”.  I wrote to the agency about her behavior; they assured me that they are the best agency around and all their maids are “Commited to Serve” – but I think it is just rhetoric and I don’t see that in her actions. Her salary is much higher than maids in other countries, but the agency say this is to keep her honest and stop her moving to another employer. They say there is a limited supply of maids, and Singapore isn’t big enough for more than one good maid agency, so I should not trust their competitors.

I have to decide whether to renew my maid’s 5-year employment contract. When we discussed this she said that she is now part of a team, and if I want her I must also accept her friends doing part-time work for me. One friend is very inexperienced, can’t do basic tasks or explain what she intends to do. I suspect that she is actually underage. When interviewed, she only seemed interested in her days-off and visiting Universal Studios. When she couldn’t answer my questions she stomped her foot and exclaimed, “I don’t know what to say!” But I am still expected to pay her a high salary.

Now there happen to be a few other maid agencies – Workhard Pte (WP), New Solutions Pte (NSP), Super Personnel Pte (SPP) and Star Domestica Pte (SDP) – that offered me some helpers who seem sincere, genuine and intelligent. They are keen to work, willing to assist me and have a good attitude. I know that they may take a bit of time to learn how everything works, but frankly I am inclined to give them a chance.

People say that the devil you know is better than one you don’t. But I feel that I can’t tahan my current maid anymore. Do you think I should sack my current maid and try out a new one? Appreciate your advice.

Footnote: I live in Tanjong Pagar GRC and it seems like I have no choice about my maid agency afterall –  I will have to stick with my current maid. For those of you who are fortunate enough to have a choice, celebrate your blessed privilege and exercise your choice wisely. My best wishes to you. “

 

what do you do if you go for an exam you didnt study for?

well the sec 1-3 exams are finally going to be full on the way. and just what do you do when you dont study for the exams? you might as well find something fun to do during the paper right!?

disclaimer: HIGHLY DISCOURAGED!!! haha…

1. on the answer sheet, find an interesting way to refuse to answer every question. (For example: I refuse to answer this question on the grounds that it conflicts with my religious beliefs.) Be creative.

2. Bring things to throw at the instructor when he’s not looking. Blame it on the person nearest to you.

3. Hand in the exam approx. 30 min. into it. As you walk out, start commenting on how easy it was.

4. If the exam is math/sciences related, make up the longest proofs you could possible think of. Get pi and imaginary numbers into most equations. If it is a written exam, relate everything to your own life story.

5. Bring some large, cumbersome, ugly idol. Put it right next to you. Pray to it often. Consider a small sacrifice. (my personal favourite!!!)

6. Do the entire exam in another language. If you don’t know one, make one up!

7. Bring a giant cockroach into the room and release it on a girl nearby.

8. Complete the exam with everything you write being backwards at a 90 degree angle.

9. Bring one pencil with a very sharp point. Break the point off your paper. Sharpen the pencil. Repeat this process for one hour.

10. Make strange noises… get people to stare… look at the person next to you as if he/she did it.

11. Bring a water pistol with you, or start a brawl in the middle of the exam

12. colour in the letters that have a closed of space i.e. a, b, d, e etc

13. On the side which says “blank page” write: “this page would be blank if this sign wasn’t telling you that”. Cover the entire page/paper. Or put movie quotes like “All work and no play makes a dull boy”

14. Yell out that ‘The Final Countdown’ is now in your head and start singing the tune, see how many people catch on.

15. Instead of trying to write the answers, write debates on questions that have plagued mankind for many years, such as who would win in a fight between Chuck Norris and Bruce Campbell.

well…………… it would be hilarious if anyone did do these during exams..

but seriously, DONT DO IT!!!!

as frustrating as it may be, when you know your parents are going to strangle you to death if you dont get decent grades,

you really have to study for exams and tests.. there’s just no easy way out.

all the best to everyone – including teachers for the last few markings of the yr except for those taking sec 3s for extra lessons.

credits: http://80thingsexams.blogspot.com/

 

How new doctors choose their fields…

this was a flowchart presented at the NUS Commencement Ceremony 2010 – by the same lady who delivered her speech on Perfection.

hilarious. enjoy.

 

how lions, elephants, spders, jellyfish, pandas spend their days…

found this online… its so funny. and i wonder if there’s any truth to any of the pie charts!

1. How Lions Spend a Typical Day

 

2. How Elephants Spend a Typical Day

 

3. How Jellyfish Spend a Typical Day

 

4. How Spiders Spend a Typical Day

 

5. How Pandas Spend a Typical Day

 

lol… panda’s spend the whole day being adorable! haha…