RI Basketball

In RI, I'm also assigned to be one of the teachers in-charge of basketball. I'm really excited about the appointment because all my life, basketball has been one of my passions. Though I never really had any competitive experience, I played a lot of street basketball.

Just last Tuesday, I was down at the Delta Sports Hall supporting our team against Catholic High. It was tbe South Zone 'C' Div Finals. We were up against the defending champions & a really strong team. They have 3 players more than 1.8 m tall. And we're talking about 'C' Div here.

We started really well. We played tough defense. Whenever their tall guys got the ball near the basket, 2 or 3 of our players will swarm him & defend together. That really broke their momentum at the start of the game. By the end of half-time, the scoreline was really close.

In the 4th quarter, our lads began to suffer from serious cramps. 3 of our starters had to rest because of that. Nearing the final minute, our team drew within 2 points. However, we lost concentration & that allowed 2 easy baskets plus a free-throw for the opps.

Despite the loss, I'm really proud of our guys. Their defensive intensity throughout almost the whole game was amazing. They fought hard for every single point on the court. Yes, they may have lost the battle. But I believe they have the potential to win the war - to be 'C' Div National Champs.

Reason? We have a great team & a great coach.

NATIONALS, HERE WE COME!!

Life as a RI Teacher

It's been 5 weeks. Time really flies.

I'm still trying to get used to being a full-time teacher in RI.

My Table in the Staff Room

Besides teaching, I have to learn to handle the responsibilities of a form-teacher. I have to take care of my form class and that goes beyond academic grades. I'm also concerned about their character.

Yesterday marked the start of the prefect nominations. Altogether, 5 students from my form class, 1M came looking for me today to talk about it. They all shared with me that they wanted to serve the school and help the other students.

I agree that serving the school and helping other students is important. However, I think being a prefect means much more.

"What do you wish to become at the end of 4 years if you're elected as a prefect? In terms of skills and character." I asked them.

None of them have actually thought about it. I told them to think about it and write a short reflection.


I believe that in all things, we should always being with the end in mind. That will guide us as we go along, and we won't be directionless or aimless. For example, if I want to become a prefect in RI, I should know at least roughly what I want to become at the end of Sec. 4. If along the way, I find myself not working towards the goal, I need to stop, reflect and react.


Do you begin with the end in mind?

Blessing in DIsguise

As many of you would have known, my grandpa is still in the hospital.

The good news is that he should be discharged soon, in the next 1 or 2 weeks if nothing goes wrong.

However, it's not going to be easy taking care of him at home. He needs someone to take care of him almost constantly. And that person most likely is going to be my maid, Annisa.

The funny thing is, Annisa only joined my household 3 months ago. And initially when she first came, my mum and grandma were saying that Annisa does housework rather slowly and couldn't seem to be able to cope.

However, it turns out that she's quite a meticulous person. And she's bold as well. She actually went to the hospital to learn how to take care of my grandpa. She did very well too. The nurses over there were all quite impressed by her.

Now, she's rather confident in taking care of my grandpa. She even knows how to do simple injections and tube feeding. It's really quite amazing. I think she has the potential to become a real nurse next time because she already has some of the skill set.

She's really a blessing in disguise to my family. I want to thank God for her.

100K Campaign

I haven't being blogging for the past week or so. I had been really busy going around giving people free gifts.

Yes, free gifts!

National Day is coming soon. As a gift to the nation, my church is on this 100K Campaign whereby collectively, we will bless 100, 000 people in Singapore.

Yes, 100, 000 people!

This blessing can come in terms of small gifts, acts of service or acts of kindness. In addition, we are also committed to pray for the needs of these people every night, for a period of 1 month. We believe that these prayers will be answered.

And there's absolutely nothing we want in return. Because we believe that "it is more blessed to give than to receive"!!

So far, I've blessed 10 people - ranging from my family members, to my friends, to my colleagues and even to total strangers. Though the target is 20, I would really want to make it a faith challenge and go for at least 30. =)

If any of you have any prayer requests, or other forms of needs, you are welcomed to approach me, either via MSN - yingmushijiang@msn.com or this blog's tagboard. I'll be glad to bless you.

Teachers' Investiture Ceremony 2007

Today, I have officially become a full-fledge teacher. I was given the appointment by the Permanent Secretary (for Education) in Nayang Auditorium in NTU. It was a formal occassion and we all had to wear academic gowns. My parents were there to witness the ceremony as well.

How fast time flies. 1 year of teacher training passed just like that. The friends made, the colleagues that did endless projects with me. Well, to a certain extent, that phase of my life is over. I need to move on.

The challenge ahead for me lies: to be an excellent teacher, out to transform the lives of my students and mold their character to be good.

At this point, it is only appropriate that I have this teachers' pledge in my heart always, to remind myself why I want to be a teacher.

We, the teachers of Singapore,
pledge that:

We will be true to our mission to bring out
the best in our pupils.

We will be exemplary in the discharge of
our duties and responsibilities.

We will guide our pupils to be good and
useful citizens of Singapore.

We will continue to learn and pass on
the love of learning to our pupils.

We will win the trust, support and
co-operation of parents and the community
so as to enable us to achieve our mission.

There's No Place I'd Rather Be

Yes, there's really no place I'd rather be. I'm every inch a true-breed Singapore Singaporean.

I went through the S'pore education, K1, K2, streamed in P3, streamed in P4, took PSLE, went on to 'O' levles and 'A' levels. Then I went on to NS. 2 and a half years later, I ORDed, and went on to do my university studies at NUS. And finally, I finished my post-grad diploma at NIE. 18 years of education!!

I love eating. I love eating char kway tiao, hokkien mee, mee goreng, mee siam, laksa, hainanese chicken rice, carrot cake, MacDonald's, KFC, Burger King, Long John Silver, bo bo cha cha, ice iachang, ice jelly, red ruby, cha siew bao, siew mai, dumplings, mooncakes, etc, etc etc........

I don't like the following stuff, but I have learnt to accept them: 7% GST, ERP, COE, Road Tax, Income Tax, housing loan, car loan, computer loan, tuition loan, kiasu mentality, Hello Kitty queue, etc. Yes, they're part of life in Singapore.

Though I've been to a few countries like Sweden, Denmark, Norway, London, it's true. Nothing beats home. There's No Place I'd Rather Be, except Singapore.

Hossan Leong puts it best when he says "We live in Singapura, it's not perfect living, but at least it's interesting."

We Love Singapura - Original Version

We Love Singapura - MTV Version

Guys, let's respond to challenges!

Recently, someone told me that if we want to grow in life (means in terms of maturity and character), we have to learn to move out of our comfort zone into the combat zone. When I heard that, I really agree with it.

One thing for sure, guys at every stage of life - be it adolescent, youth, young adult or mature men, thrive on challenges. When we are young, we like to challenge our peers in almost everything - be it studies, computer games (like DOTA, CS, Halo 2) or sports. When we are older, we like to challenge ourselves in our careers. We like to live in the combat zone!

When we guys overcome challenges in our lives, it gives us a certain sense of achievement. To be exact, it makes us feel validated. Each of us will believe that "I can make it". Somehow, this is part of the guys' make up. And it's terribly important to us.

Conversely, when we guys refuse to take up any challenges in life, we lose the fighting spirit in us. We lose the zest in life. We don't dare to take risks. Everything becomes a rountine. We just want to be comfortable right where we are. And when there's a turn of events (of which we can't control, like natural diasters) that shake us up, we would be paralysed and not being able to respond.

Personally, the latest challenge came early this year. I was given the opportunity to either apply for teaching in Raffles Institution or Hwa Chong Institution. Well, I graduated from Hwa Chong more than 10 years ago. It would of course be more comfortable for me to go back to my old school.

However, I need a challenge in life. I need to be uncomfortable so that I can grow. That's one of the reasons why I decided to apply for RI. And right now, I'm a teacher in the school. Though the culture is totally different from Hwa Chong, I really felt that I've learnt a lot, and am having a great time over there. =)


(Of course, we must make sure that the challenges that we take up are good challenges, and not bad ones.)