It's good to be loved.

It's GOOD to feel loved and it's good to feel missed!




Here I am surrounded by presents from the students and teachers and staff in Seksyen 5 who loved me and missed me despite all my shortcomings and imperfections. It took me several days to complete opening all the presents. Sue Ann and Jason came home and saw this mountain of gifts in the hallway.




I have books which I will love to read and Jason already started reading one of the books I recieved. I have yards and yards of lovely textile material - now I need to find a good tailor .

I recieved so many bling bling to make me more beautiful - thank you for the lovely brooches, bangles, bags and baju - all the B's to make make me more B ( beautiful) And the lovely gold watch from the form 5 and the gold ring from Kelab Staff. And the list goes on and on......




Thank you students, staff and PIBG of Seksyen 5 for making me feel loved and missed.





I have flower bouquets and blooming orchids in a lovely basket.



For all the labour , tears, prayers and love that I have poured in Seksyen 5 in the five years I was there, God has rewarded me many fold far beyond what I have put in.












I see the smiles on the students' faces, the teamwork of the teachers and staff and their dedication to give of their very best to the students and my response is that It is very berbaloi amat berbaloi!! Yes, it's been very very worthwhile! This will encourage me to pour all my heart has into Convent Sentul. It is a strong affirmation that God is a very good rewarder of those who seeks His face and His will.

The Majlis Pesaraan (Farewell ceremony ) surprised me! The minute I opened my car door and saw the reception of teachers ad students, tears immediately form in my eyes. And yours truly being the ever sentimental person I am, I immediately armed myself with wads of tissue and resolved both in my heart and aloud to HM Pn Habshah- "Okay okay today we won't cry - we will be happy!" Sometimes in the busyness of being a new principal, I don't realize how much I miss Seksyen 5 until I stepped foot inside Seksyen 5 again and all those feelings well up from within me and tears begin to flow.

Seeing the familiar faces of the prefects and the students and teachers in the guard of honour was a joy! Thank you for the poems, the songs and the presentation. The majlis was very meaningful in so many ways. Many things in the program touched my heart especially the specially composed poem and the PKP student who read it with meaning and great articulation! And I am so happy to find the poem written in the book PKP gave me and Margie tells me she will send me the framed poem.


I had great fun when the prefects sang with me and the students waved as in unision as we sang. Thank you prefects - for the song, for the guard of honour, for the lovely gifts and the cards and the little notes. I want to stay friends forever with you guys.


And friends are friends forever
If the Lord 's the Lord of them.
And a friend will not say never
Cos' the welcome will not end
Though it's hard to let you go,
In the Father's hand we know,
That a life time's not too long to...
live as friends
No, a life time's not too long to..
live as friends


And when I did the final inspection of the prefects and librarians and others
Lynn said " I am so proud of you" I think that was because finally although many times I was close to tears, but I didn't cry. It was a happy time for me.

And the jamuan was wonderful especially with Noraini's out of the world laksa!! Yummy!


Now I have finished opening all the gifts. And I enjoy so much all the little cards and notes and letters I find together with the gifts. Thank you for the many reminders of your love.









I am indeed honoured by PIBG's big turnout at the jamuan perpisahan. Thank you. The PIBG AJK meetings was a great learning experience! In these meetings, I got to interact with professionals who although were not educationists but had the heart for education. And the intellectual exchange both real and virtual was stimulating and help me grow beyond
the narrow world of just school.



And finally ... this cute gift from Pn. Mahmudah and Fairuz makes me smile and grin and realize something...





I thought this part of me would have escaped the teachers and the students' attention - this innate part of me that I try sometimes to keep a little undercover but i think from the gift - the secret's is out.





It's good to know that the teachers and the students know me well and know me for who I really am. They know in my heart of hearts, this teacher is like not so conventional but a little radical much like the Hard Rock Cafe Teddy bear with sunglasses on his head holding a musical instrument!


You guys must have caught me in those unguarded moments when I hum and sing on the way to class and during class and they know I got music and songs in my heart and the music flows into the class lesson.





So ...let the music and songs continue to flow and stir the joy of teaching and learning.



















































































































































































































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What encourages me.

The past first week as Principal of Convent Sentul has been a sort of baptism of fire.

On the very first day the school had 4 official visitors. On the 3rd day two other official visitors came. On the whole, all the visitors wrote very good reports save for one set of visitors who had come for a very short visit but with a certain agenda.

I enjoyed most the very diligent visitor who reached Convent Sentul at 7.30 am that very first day of school and stayed till almost 6.00 pm. She personified true diligence. I accompanied her as she checked every room (We opened all the locked rooms and cupboards for her ). To my surprise, I noted she turned every sink tap and opened practically every cupboard. I am absolutely delighted to report that there was only one sink tap that malfunctioned out of the many taps she turned that day. She observed the morning teachers in the class and waited patiently to observe the afternoon teachers. She was very professional in her comments and conducted the pre- meeting before inspection with us so that we would understand the purpose for her visit and the post meeting after the inspection to let us know her fair findings. I was so happy with her diligence and professionalism that I gave her an autographed copy of my 2nd book.

There were certainly many things at work in the spiritual realm that week - both against us and for us. I was instructed and advised by certain officials to make a certain decision which I found unpleasant. I also fell severely ill and had to be nebulized and was on mc on Thursday in the very first week of school! I think I have not had an mc for several years in Seksyen 5

When I sought help from the other Christian principals, I recieved ready help and advice. I was much encouraged by the many phone calls from the Catholic Church and others who affirmed they were praying for me in view of the crucial decision I had to make that first week despite being severely ill.

Now I clearly realized I am not alone in this battle for the students and teachers' hearts, minds and souls. I am very much reassured that God has gone on ahead of me and He walks alongside me and He is my rear guard.

This 2nd week God helped me win certain battles on the Monday morning. This morning I am much encouraged by Sister Luke and Sister Ben's visit to the school. They are simply so gracious and I am simply encouraged by these two sisters who toiled on and worked despite their age.

But God always knows the final secret as to what warms my heart the most!

See how beautiful these two tone purple flowers creepers blooming above the two benches near the school's little field. On my first visit to the school, the two vines were not in full flower and actually looked quite pathethic and scrawny. So I had a word with the gardener Maran.

And lo and behold - it has been only a few weeks after that first visit but Maran has done wonders and the flowers are in beautiful bloom! Oh the joy that beautiful sight stirs in my heart! Can anybody out there tell me the name of this flowering shrub?

I am also so delighted by the fact the school is not so big and I can complete my morning rounds quite quickly. Behind these two flowering vines are the Form 3 classes and also the corridor which leads to the library and the science labs.

.

My heart sings grateful thanks to the God who always encourages me - by people, by circumstances and by the flowers which bloom so profusely under His care.

The pleasure of watching my orchids bloom.

My orchids have been blooming beautifully for several months. They amaze me and bring me so much pleasure.


Each day when I reach home after parking my car, I will go and gaze at them and simply enjoy them. Two particular stalks of very huge blooms amazed me. They initially had about 8 flowers all blooming beautifully. Then another 5 or so flower buds appeared at the end of each stalk and the blooming continued.


So I wonder - if I a mere mortal human can derive so much pleasure and delight by watching my orchids bloom, how much pleasure does Papa God recieve when I bloom in confidence.


In our very Asian culture - there is this very strong emphasis to be functional and to make ourselves useful. There is much less emphasis on being decorative and beautiful. And we often wrongly think ourselves useless if we are less than efficient.


My orchids do not have be functional - they do no work at all. Yet they bring me so much pleasure by being just beautiful. So I will to learn a lesson from my orchids and be as happy to be beautiful.


So to all the girls and guys who are stressed out just to be super efficiently functional - relax and be beautiful and handsome.


A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

Oh for the love of an iPhone 4

So many of you have been telling me to get an iPhone 4. Let me clarify..........

Unbeknown to you guys, I had actually got an iPhone4 some weeks ago brought in from the States and it had worked happily on my previous number which I stubbornly maintained because i did not want to trouble you my friends with a change in my phone number.

However for some reasons it crashed and I lost all my contacts so my daughter rescued me first with her old phone. However I did not know who sent the sms or calls since all memory kaputed. 2nd thing I did not know how to sms or call people or do anything with her phone being the dinosaur I am from ages beyond.

So she rescued me again with my old phone which I knew how to operate but no one knew that number so it was like I was oscillating between two phones, recieving from one and trying to see the number and answering on the other. I felt so frustated........ yucks! No words can express my feelings during that time.

So after realizing the first iPhone was physically there but couold not be used until for some unknown time in the future, I made an immediate decision to line up for another iPhone4 at Maxis Menara.

So I drove from home at 5.55 am and was outside the Maxis doorway in KLCC by 6.15 am. This was done with relative ease due to great amount of practice I had this past one month of waking up at 4.30 am and being at my workplace by 6.00-6.15 for many mornings on official duties.

Question Number 1 in my mind when I reached the Maxis door."Was I at the right place since no one was lining up here" Being the kiasu I was, yours truly hopped up one floor to San Franscisco Coffee place and asked them. They directed me to the main Maxis tower. There I was firmly re-directed and assured by all the guards there to return to my original spot. 6.30 am. Fan No 2 of iPhone4 arrived and waited next to me.

Turned out this 24 year old Malay girl had just finished her 4.30 am shift at the Sepang hangar for aircraft maintainance and came straight to line up for iPhone4. No, it is not her love of iPhone4 that touched me. The real story is she did all this- 24 hours straight no sleep - for the love of her father to get him an iPhone4 cos he needed one but would not be bothered to go to all the hassle to get one so she went through all the hassle for him.

Fan No 3+ boyfriend came about 7 am, i think. She dropped her blackberry and it became gila so she just had to get an iPhone4. I was amused and touched by the love of the boyfriend for fan No 3. They had come the day before and arrived at 8.45 am and there was no crowd because there was no more phones so today they came again much earlier from Subang.

All sorts of people loved the iPhone4 enough to line up for it, There was Cina apek guys who spoke in Mandarin and or in cantonese who lined up. There were several other boyfriends who accompany their girlfriends but i can honestly say I should be about the oldest to line up. Ok,ok - I may be a dinosaur but a dinosaur who had used the iPhone4 earlier and who had loved it!

One door opened about 8 am i think. We inched nearer but there was another door. We were then given numbers and yours truly is No 1. News to all who seek iPhone4. If you are the first 3 in the line and be the first at each of the 3 counters, you get your iPhone4 immediately. The others were asked to come back at 12.45 pm and then only they could recieve the phones.

Boyfriend of fan No 3 happily held the iPhone4 and said, " Yes we got it!" I said "Naw, that doesn't move me cos I have been holding the phone for a few weeks but i want not just the phone but all the stuff and fringe benefits that comes with it from the online stuff."

So friends, ever since i had a hand phone, I held the same number throughout for the love of my friends and don't want to incovenience anybody. This week, I went through 3 different numbers and I hope I will not have to change to another number.

End of the simplified story on for the love of an iPhone4. It actually begins with the love for people bonded by phone numbers and email and facebook and the love of my daughter who rescued me - the dinosaur. Please do not use the 010 number. My daughter is taking it to Shanghai and you may find yourself landed with a whopping bill.

P/S : The boyfriend of fan No 3 is supposed to post this all on the blog before me but when i surfed and couldn't smell his blog, I had to write.

Movie Nite cum farewell

I recieved so many well wishes and congratulations in the short time I posted my promotion.

Thank you for your support.

I also recieved many queries as to when, where so is the movie place.

So this is the the movie I want to watch at this time. We can eat before the movie or after. Please buy your own tickets especially if in a big group so that can pau the cineplex if need be . I can meet you for dinner before the movie and eat round two for those who tak jadi eat after the movie also.

I am sure many of you - have heard me speak at assembly several times about movies - I think this year I spoke about Karate Kid one year about Wong Fei Hoong etc. I remember when Lye Ken and Vani and gang left Seksyen 5, we watched the movie Benjamin Buttons together.

My family and friends have this habit of going to the cinema in big groups especially if it on the eve of Chinese New Year - we started small and one year increased to 47 people one year. The next year we increased to 68 people and after that i lost count because the group grew so big that i think we went into two separate cineplexus but at the same location .

Yes I am a semangat movie kaki and I want to share this fun part of being a movie kaki with you and also to makan and to lepak with you fellas.

So see you there. Somebody please suggest the best shop to makan in Wangsa Walk?

Love

Puan Tan

Dearest Anak-anak dan ex-anak Seksyen 5 - Svian

Dec 2010

On Thursday I recieved the official letter (surat lantikan) to be promoted to become the HM in Convent Sentul with effect 1st Dec 2010. Of course I am happy to be promoted but I am sad cos I will MISSSS you all and your... smiling faces. You are the primary reason why I stay on in Seksyen 5.

One request I have of you girls and guys all - can you teman me watch the movie Narnia in Wangsa Maju Mall this coming Wednesday? Why I made this wierd request?

About 5 years ago in Dec around 9 Dec 2005, I also recieved a similar surat arahkan me to go to Seksyen 5. About that time coincidentally was the first screening of Chronicles of Narnia. I was so miserable cos I recieved letter requesting me to change schools. At that time, I really didn't want to leave my beloved SMK Padang Tembak to go anywhere else.

My ex-students cheered me up by teman me see Chronicles of Narnia in KLCC one night before I shifted. They took the LRT to KLCC, beli ticket and we saw the film together.- i still remember some of the students that came Redzuan, Johan, Zainul and .......

Coincidentally this year i recieved the letter also about 9 Dec 2010 ( peleknyanya ) and while I know deep in my heart this promotion is certainly God's will and destiny for me to move on ..... there is the human heart where I find it hard to part with the students, ex-students, teachers, PIBG and staff who gave given me reason and cause for cheer in this school

So please cheer me up and let me see you one more time cos I will not be there when PMR results come out, when SPM results come out and will not be there to see you when school reopens.

Dear anak Svian,

Please remember to thank the many excellent and dedicated teachers in Seksyen 5 always and to encourage them to continue . A simple card of thanks , a smile, a good cheering remark will go a long way in encouraging the teachers. You may not know it but often our teachers have a lot of tension and face many problems with overcrowding since our school is so very popular and they sometimes can get discouraged. You must encourage your teachers by thanking them and giving them a hug. ( girls to girls and guys to guys ok ?)

You have so many teachers par excellence Pn Hayati, Pn Zuraidah, Ust Rizal, Pn Chee, Pn Khairul Azlina, Pn Yurnie, Pn Mahmudah, Pn Ng, Pn Geetha, Pn Vemala, Pn Lim, Miss Tan, Miss Kong, En Nizam, En Suhimi... I can go on and on about the wonderful gurus you have and sometimes I think you don't quite realize are so wonderful and don't treasure enough.

You also have a wonderful leader in our pengetua Pn Habshah. Although I have known Pn Habshah only since July this year but I have enjoyed her tremendously! She has my great respect in many areas - the way she deals with money for the school, her integrity, her kindness to many people even the pekerja, her innovativeness and savviness with using ICT and the blogs on the website. Pengetua and me have become great friends even in the course of 5 short months and I am sad to leave her. Please give her your fullest cooperation and help her in every possible way.

I want you to also be kind to the pekerja - the gardeners and the cleaners - never despise them. Manzahari our chief gardener is a treasure - he is so honest that when he found more than RM700/- he immediately called me and gave the money to me for safekeeping. Not many people would have done that and I want you to respect people not just because they are your superiors but to respect people because they have integrity and above all every human being have dignity and needs to be treated with dignity.


Keep celebrating learning and teaching, not just inside the classroom but outside the classroom on your field trips, all the camps etc! Celebrate life!


Love always

Puan Tan

Love in any language

Yesterday two ex- students came up to me and greeted me while I was shopping in Carre Four. They asked " Cikgu, how are you? " I looked at them, yes i could recognize definitely they were my ex- students but i couldn't quite place the year I had taught them. So I asked which year they graduated.

While talking, I took a good look at their faces and although I couldn't remember their names, I knew we had worked together closely on some co-curriculum projects. So I asked them again. Blame it on old age and loss in memory or what. Both reminded me " Choir!" Then I remembered " Hey you were the conductor." I said excitedly. The boys replied" Yeah and you brought us to the Cheras school to sing."

And there right there in the middle of Carre Four he broke out happily in song with no embarassment " Je taime, Te amo,... the beginning lines of the song we presented that year " Love in any language." Wow! That was good to have two handsome young men sing "I love you" in foreign languages to me in the middle of Carre Four.

I laughed -- and said after all these years - you still remember the song and the lyrics. My heart brimmed with pleasure when I noted that these two very Malay boys from SMK Padang Tembak remembered not only the tune perfectly but also the French and ( was the 2nd phrase Italian? ) phrases for I love you..

We laughed as we reminisced about the choir costumes - we had red silk bow ties which i told them I still kept because we handmade these for the choir members to wear. We borrowed nice vests and they had looked so good.

When I looked at them, I thought how it seemed like only yesterday when I had last taught them and now they had grown so quickly into handsome young men . Later they reminded me that they were actually brothers and the choir conductor had roped in his younger brother to sing and many other details came flooding in.

And about the song - we had sang the chorus of this song using sign language and we had waved flags of different countries to signify the different languages in the songs.

Now in retrospect I realized the students' best and most nostalgic memories were not about lessons but during co-curriculum events where they had loved and been loved by one another.

If you want to hear the song google for Love in any language by Sandy Patti www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nmi1KYC5Htw

Love in any language is always remembered even after many years!