Thursday, May 29, 2008

Chinese PM on Facebook!

:) Chinese premier Wen Jia Bao has gained much warm respect from Chinese citizens and netizens worldwide for his quick and empathetic response to help earthquake victims. Check it out ->

http://sg.news.yahoo.com/ap/20080529/tap-china-earthquake-facebook-bb10fb8.html


Here's a short story to read... but u have to fill in some blanks.. :

The teacher she liked best was Mr. Bedlow, in biology. He sat on one ______ of his desk, one foot in his brown loafer swinging back and forth _________ his tan Dockers. And as the class quieted down, he began talking ______ , so softly that everyone had to _____ to hear.

“People ask me sometimes,” he began, “why I teach biology. It all boils down to one ______ fact, I think: All life on earth is produced by other _________ life. The cells of your body go back to the very first life on Earth. Think about that, class….”

_________ to Chrissa the class did understand. Seemed to, anyway, for silence was all ______ her.

“For this semester and next,” Mr. Bedlow went on, “we’ll be studying the human body, what it _______ to be alive, the differences between living and nonliving things, between plant and animal cells, and the place of human beings in nature. Because we’re all tied _______. Think about this: The latest theory is that before the big bang, the universe – the whole universe, class – was ________ into a space smaller than a single atomic particle.”

Chrissa tried to ________ it – herself, one with the rivers, the rocks, the sun, the rain.

Yes! She thought. I’m going to like this class!

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

shave their heads - Wow!

Today in the news....

:( Aung San Suu Ki's house arrest has been extended by the Myanmar military government

:( A new quake/tremor caused another 400,000 homes in Sichuan to collapse, sigh

:) In recent donation drives to help the Quake and the Cylone victims, Singapore children
have been very generous. Way to go, kids!!!

:) In the continuing campaign to raise awareness for Child Cancer, more people will volunteer
to shave their heads for generous donations. Last year more than 400 people did that.
WOW!!! There are still many good and unselfish people in Singapore.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

another DSA Saturday...

Last Saturday we visited NYGH... great school, nice people, nice dorm .. reason to be proud of the NY brand :) Last night we had the DSA roadshow at NYP. Mdm Heng is quite confident that NYP will still have 40% of the top PSLE students even though in recent year we may have missed getting the top. NUS high had an impressive presentation.. one of only three observatories in Singapore. Impressive! Modular programs, self paced, University environment! Incredible campus. Definite dream for the peak performers in Math/Science. We listened to SOTA. I think it's an ambitious plan to have Arts-inclined students study a heavy IB program AND add to it their passion and excel in the Arts. RGS didn't come (is it out of arrogance? tsk tsk... well.. give them the benefit of the doubt.)

Today we visited RGS at their open house. Hmmm .. without question a very very strong program and tradition and great ideals for scholarly learning, community spirit and leadership. Terrific terrific cheers! However, the first talk we heard was titled "Are you ready for RGS?", by the school counsellor, talking about some girls taking 4-5 months to adjust to the pace of the school. No question NYGH and RGS are tops in IP for the girls. Hey any Singaporean can be proud to go into any of these schools.

...
Heard this story in Mary Poppins on TV: Said a man to his buddy, "Did you hear about the man with a wooden leg called Smith?" His buddy replied, "What the name of his other leg?"

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Twin Disasters

The Sichuan quake.. it shook China, shook the world in the extent of human tragedy caused by nature. Good to see quick large scale response from the government and army, outpouring of aid and charity from the world at large, the openness of China, the heroic rescues, and the stories of survival by trapped victims. And the government showed some real sympathy and concern. Thank God for the dams holding up well after the quake.

The Myanmar Cyclone relief is only now showing small signs of hope for survivors. It felt very hopeless a week ago when all the well intended help gets stopped at the border. Even now when we see the military leaders inspecting the relief campsites, it looks so staged.. army generals questioning formally, and a row of Cyclone refugee family standing seemingly at attention, afraid of violating any protocol or of offending the Powers that be. What a sad sight. I'm glad they followed suit after China declared three days of morning. Singapore did well to negotiate for the terms of foreign help.

Saturday, May 10, 2008

Myanmar

Hello World! Have you helped the Myanmar Cyclone Relief? ... not yet?

c o m e o n Help! What are you waiting for?