A Singaporean [Quitter] in Maesai

Home Alone

2012-02-10T14:35:37Z

Yup. Wife and kids are having a slumber party at her friend’s place so which means I have the house all to myself… well… not really, I still have a Dam with 4 pups and a rooster . They just left an hour ago and I was planning to watch some movies but I guess I will just pass. Think I will go to sleep early after I finish writing this entry.

The 4 sisters.

2012-02-05T07:11:17Z

Taking care of the puppies are quite a chore actually. Especially so when they are in week 3. They are starting to pee and poo everywhere and have some strength to climb around. I used part of the old broken wooden crib of my girl and fixed a little fence to keep them in. Their nesting area is just beside my garage and I would not want to worry that when I am parking I might crush one of them.

Wife already decided to keep one of the pups again… . Although I don’t really like the idea but I am kind of attached to them too . Since I am taking a lot of time taking care of them too. Cindy (my dog’s name) is a good and protective mother. It’s her 2nd batch and so she’s a bit more experienced. She would clean up the mess (pee and poo) by licking and eating the contents (even though I try to stop her from doing it). Every time someone is looking over her brood, she would be on her guard and growl if they are too close to them. Only Me and my wife could touch her brood. Well, not my wife if I’m not around, she even got bitten by Cindy once while I was not around ! hehhehe

I guess its because I would pat and look at Cindy in her eyes first every time before I even touch her brood. She seems to know I am seeking permission and normally she would lower her gaze. That’s telling me I am allowed to do so. Another reason I guess is because I am the one who always feeds her hehe. Anyway it will be another month’s time before we give the others away. We found homes for 2 of them and still looking for 1 more home for the last pup.

PS: The one we are keeping has a spot of white on her head. Wife named her Cookie…..

A great holiday for the kids.

2012-01-31T04:20:01Z

Apologies as I did not take much digital shots nowadays so some of the photos may need to be scanned and posted later. I have been shooting but was being very selective recently on my shots. I think the main reason is I am shooting in film medium more rather than digital. I had also send in my a900 for shutter replacement. I have not serviced it for more than a year so I send it in to Camera hospital for CLA and replaced the shutter. It should last me for at least another 3 or more years as I don't shoot with it that often nowadays.

The week to Singapore was much more enjoyable this round as there are more things for the kids to enjoy at my sister's new house. My mom and sis has moved to a HDB flat while the old house was renovated and prepared to be rented out.

There are some newly furbished playground just below our block and almost every morning we would bring the kids to play.

We also went swimming at Tampines Swimming Pool. Kids loved the slides :P

So much so that when we tried to leave the pool, boy boy throw a big tantrum and everyone was staring at us. Luckily I brought along a pre-mixed bottle of milk for him. Works everytime.

We spent most of the time exploring around our new neighbourhood. Wife also spent some time off with some new friends from Maesai that we got to know from this humble website :)

Its a bit less hectic than last year and we did not visit any major attraction this year even though the weather was kind to us. Both of them got a bit darker from the swimming and running around. All in all good fun.

I would also like to offer an apology to those who miss the opportunity meeting us during this trip. Another time maybe! :)

Puppies!!! (Again.)

2012-01-16T03:32:18Z

Its actually pretty embarassing but we had no idea our doggie Cindy was pregnant all the time until she gave birth yesterday. :P This was because she ate a lot and I gave her more food then usual, so we thought she was just getting a bit fat..

On the 14th, she was whimpering and her nose was a bit dry and shivering. I thought she was sick so I ask my wife to get a vet to take a look at her. The $%!$%! lousy vet came and just gave her two shots and said there is a common cold. We kind of believe him because our neighbour Ah Ma's dog was sick too.

Anyway, at night she actually felt better and was able to walk around the house and eat a little. I gave her a thick blanket to keep her warm but she was still breathing heavily.

Next morning which was yesterday on the 15th. Wife woke up and screamed when she saw a pool of blood around Cindy. At first she thought she was dead but she was actually licking something. Babies!

Wife woke me up and as usual, Cindy was pretty protective of her babies. Ah Ma came over too and we were pretty excited. We counted 4 but one of them seems not to be moving. Closer inspection we actually see it was dead. :( My wife distracted Cindy and Ah Ma managed to get hold of the limp body out. It's a boy. We put him in a little shoebox and send him away. An hour later, another puppy came out and so a total of 5 was born. All very pretty and have spots on their bodies. We can't really go close as Cindy growls everytime we get close to her.

Later that day, we removed her dirty soiled blanket and moved her to a corner. Its pretty cold here so we were the puppies might get too cold. The kids were excited, especially girl girl. Boy boy just looks on in confusion... hehe..

At night, I deliberately put Cindy's food some distance away so wife could transfer the puppies to Cindy's little dog house that we had cleaned up. Wife was dissapointed as all 4 were girls! hahahah.. All look cute though. Now we have to start looking for people who wish to have a dog in Maesai here :P

Being an English Teacher in Thailand

2012-01-04T12:58:57Z

There's a reader who wrote in to me asking me about discrimination against Asians when applying for jobs as an English teacher. I tried replying to her email but it was mispelled so I could not reply her via email. But I guess its better for me to write a short entry about this issue too.

Yes, you can still find a job but sadly if you are an Asian then you would find it a bit more difficult to find a good placement in Thailand. Yes, they do prefer Caucasian. I've met a some ESL teachers who couldn't even form proper sentences or speak in proper English and yet they were hired!

There are language schools or International schools that might hire Asians without any discriminations but their basic requirement is not TEFL but a degree in Education. Unless you can prove your worth, the chances of getting a fair and well paid job as a ESL teacher would be hard. Especially so in Bangkok. But if you planning to teach in the rural areas (where pay is really very low and working with a much bigger class and more workload) then it should be a non-issue.

Hope this helps!

Last post of 2011

2011-12-31T12:32:04Z

Just want to post a short one on the last day of the year :P . Wish all have a Happy New Year and hopefully your resolutions and wishes will come true in coming 2012.

For those a bit concerned about my last post... I'm safely back in Singapore yesterday night :P And here's a short video of girl girl's performance in school on their New Year Eve's school performance 2 days ago.

ตาย(dai) liao ตาย(dai) liao!

2011-12-27T02:38:38Z

The title in Thai literally means die die! :P Well it all happened 2 nights ago, I was doing some electric wiring (with the power off of course) when my son just came in and playfully shouted. "Papa Dai liao, dai liao!" Wife heard it and looked at me sternly. I don't know why am I foolishly working on electrical stuff at night so I stopped and played with my son.

The following day (which is yesterday), we were at my wife's friend Nat house having dinner, Nat's daughter Sophia (very good friend of us) came in saw me and then ran to my wife and her mother and shouted, "Didi Papa dai liao! Mai Mi liao (no more)!". Wife got so worried that she actually wants me to cancel my flight back to SG on the 30th......

I explained to her that our son must have passed the info to his little friend while playing so stop worrying. But wife insisted to go pray pray and get some blessings for me. Urgghh....

Anyway, been looking at the horoscopes for my zodia next coming year. Year of the black dragon and I am born in the year of the dragon too. It seems I will have bad luck all the way next year till the end. :P Really "Dai" liao...

It's bloody scary that they don't see the link.

2011-12-23T05:55:58Z

Nowadays, I tried not to write too much about politics or social issues in SG but the recent major COCKUP of SMRT in our country's rail system really shows how a lot of Singaporeans missed the point. I have this conclusion when I read the comments and posts online and it pisses me off.

Which major point they missed?? They cliamed that this issue has NOTHING to do with our gahment and we are barking at the wrong tree. We should be blame it on SMRT instead. The gahment has nothing to do with this recent fiasco!

HELLLOOOO!!!! First of all, isn't the rail system a "PUBLIC" transport?? What do we meant by "PUBLIC"? It means it belongs to the gahment right? Even now its under a private corporation, our gahment should enforce checks and collect feedback from the common groung and enforce certain maintenance rules on SMRT or whoever is running the business. It seems that they just throw the ball to SMRT after building the infrastructure and wait to collect money. AND why is our public transport managed by a private Corp in the first place???!!!.This is absurd!

So of course we need to blame our gahment. Who appointed SMRT CEO?? Temasek board right? Who is in the Temasek board? Independent and private my big fat ASS! Grow up silly Singaporeans. Go on! Live in your little wells and believe in whatever the gahment tells you. You are screwed!! :P

*PS That picture of me is my expression when I see those comments..... :P really WTF!

My new garden

2011-12-17T13:33:50Z

My garden was in a mess ever since I came back from SG. After some heckling from my wife. I decided to do something about it. We cleared off all the plants and trees and dug out all the stones and weeds. Then we removed the pots and my wife enlisted her cousin’s help in paving the garden with sand and bricks. The whole project took us about a week. 5 days to be exact actually and it was quite labour intensive. I helped mostly by moving the bricks and laying the sand while her cousin laid the bricks. We also enlisted our friend’s help and roped in her brother to help too I would say the project was pretty successful, the kids now have a new playground in the garden

Finished!

I am getting worried

2011-12-09T14:47:25Z

Not really about my kids or life over here in Thailand but my passion for photography. Recently I began to succumb into my "no shoot mood". Which means I had not taken out one of my cameras out to play. I had not taken a single frame for almost 2 weeks (not even my kids). I can’t figure the real reason behind this but I guess the main reason is I guess I ran out of ideas and I am just being lazy trying to do something about it . Nothing really inspires me! It seems the weather here is also making me a bit stone. Big changes in the temperature and dry dusty air discourages me to go out and explore. I spent more time reading and playing with my new phone or on the net rather than shooting. This is really a bit worrying as its kind of the longest dry spell for me.

For the last few weeks, I have been busy with reformatting and installing Windows 7 on my old PC over here. Surprisingly after the fresh installation the PC ran much faster and smoother. I guess M$ really is getting their acts correct after their Vista hoohaa… (Yes I know, 8 is coming out and I just installed 7 )

Anyway, I took out my NEX-3 and put on a cheap0 25mm C-mount TV lens and went shooting in the garden. Only took 3 shots but kind of refreshing. I do like this cheapo lens. Not sharp but just check out the swirly bokeh . Not for everyone but hey, I dun need to photoshop to make it look like dat….

Finally, this post is just a simple rambling, I am worried but I will be working on it.. I will be dead before I gave up on photography! That I am sure of.