Hiatus

Dear all,

I am taking a short break from blogging. Not sure how long I define short as, but it would be for at least 3 months because my submission date is exactly 3 months from today.

Three months without my stories isn't too long, I don't think. ;)

In the mean time, I will be updating my Instagram, so do drop by when I randomly wander through your thoughts.

Keep safe, y'all!

Piccolo Me @ Australian Hearing Hub

When the new Australian Hearing Hub building opened, we were wondering if it would also house some new places for food. And to hide from supervisors. Before I could find out, I went on my summer holiday. And when I returned, Kel asked, "Hey SJ, have you been to Piccolo Me? That's where we go for our coffee now."

Ah, so, the famous Piccolo Me from the city has opened a branch in the north. And how lucky am I to have them in my own backyard, literally a 5 minute stroll from the office - not sure if it is a good or bad thing, really.

I have tried some of the pastry, sweet and savoury ones:

Needless to say, every visit there is to have some form of coffee or chai (for me on most days):

And to have this, the Nutellagato:

Exclusively served at Piccolo Me (like duh, they created it) the Nutellagato is basically Nutella and vanilla ice-cream, double ristretto (in a syringe!) with chocolate flakes and crushed hazelnuts. Now this is a shot I do not mind taking any time!

Piccolo Me @ Australian Hearing Hub
16 University Avenue, Macquarie University, NSW 2109, Australia
Tel: +61 2 9889 2964

Learning about others

Admit it, there is a tendency in every one of us to point the finger at someone other than ourselves when something goes wrong. Or when we 'think' that something has gone wrong.

What we define as 'right' and 'wrong' may, and most likely, is not universal. I always remind my students that there is no 'right' and 'wrong', just 'different'. And it is okay to be different.

I found this list of questions for reflection useful. Students work in pairs to ask their partner each of these questions. However, I think that these questions work really well for self reflection, too, to remind ourselves of the things we prioritise and how those priorities came about. By understanding our own beliefs and goals, we learn to take in other people's beliefs and goals, which allows us to accept the diversity that exists in the world. I find it particularly interesting when students try to tease out the reasons behind their similarities and differences.

Maybe you will find these questions helpful, too.

1. Whom should you obey? Why?
2. Who makes decisions (at home, school, community)? Why?
3. How should you behave with others (elders, children, neighbours)? Why?
4. Whom should you respect? How do you show respect? Why?
5. How should you act in public so you bring credit or honour to your family? Why?
6. What does it mean to be successful in life? Why?
7. Whom should you trust? Why?
8. What are the sins of success? Why?
9. What provides 'security' in life? Why?
10. Whom should your friends be? Who decides? Why?
11. Where and the with whom, should you live? Why?
12. Whom should you marry? At about what age? Who decides? Why?
13. What is expected of children when they are young? Why?
14. What should you depend on others for? Why?
15. When should you be self-sufficient, if ever? Why?
16. What should you expose toe others, and what should be kept private? Why?
17. How should you plan for your future? Why?
18. What should be remembered from your heritage? Why?
19. What was better when you were younger or during your parents' youth? Why?
20. What do you wish for your children that you could not have? Why?

Source: Cushner, K. (1998). Human diversity in action (p. 133). Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Bakchang!

Bakchang, or glutinous rice dumplings are traditionally eaten on the 5th day of the 5th lunar month. As with many Chinese practices, this practice also stem from a folklore from the period of the Warring States. According to legend, packets of rice were thrown into the Miluo River to prevent fish from eating the body of the poet Qu Yuan, who drowned himself there after he unsuccessfully warned his Emperor and countrymen of the expansion of the neighbouring kingdom. This folklore is also known as the Duanwu Festival or the Dragonboat Festival and this packet of rice has evolved into the bakchang we eat today.

We did not make our batch of bakchang in time for the 5th of the 5th but it was perfect weather for some warm packetful homely love. The night before, Mel soaked the glutinous rice, mushrooms and bamboo leaves in water.

We were both wondering if we bought enough ingredients, such as dried shrimps and chestnuts. Oh well, we would only know the next day.

Mel's friend, Hooi Li, came the next day. Mel woke up real early to start stir-frying the glutinous rice with caramel sauce, soy sauce and five spice powder. I helped with the stir-frying, too, and we both wondered if the rice was too 'burnt'. Hooi Li did not think so, so it was fingers crossed.

Hooi Li brought with her some marinated pork belly and in no time, Mel demonstrated how to fold and hold the bamboo leaves to keep the ingredients safely tucked. We made sure there was one piece of pork, one piece of mushroom and two chestnuts in each dumpling.

I have had bakchang all my life but admittedly, this was my first attempt at making them on my own. It took me quite a few dumplings before actually getting the folding 'right'. Not very perfect, the shape, unfortunately.

I left the tying to Mel. She had a good sifu (her mother) and she herself made a patient teacher, too. Haha, it must have been trying to have a student like me, who could not get the leaves properly folded.

In total, we made 52 bakchangs!

We boiled them in batches and watched the time. The first batch went in for 2.5 hours and we were quite excited.

Although it was a lot of work, it was much fun, too! I really enjoyed myself!

Grand opening ceremony of a bakchang - success!

The texture of the rice was great, and the taste of the other ingredients blended well. Only inconsistency was the saltiness of the rice, perhaps due to how the stir-frying was done in a frying pan instead of a wok.

Out of the 52 dumplings, only one leaked. Not bad. And since we had so many bamboo leaves leftover, we will be making more dumplings on another rainy weekend! Orders? Teehee...

Self destruction

Like literally. No idea how I manage to hurt myself (unintentionally, of course!) so often.

Straw tower game

One of the most relaxed classes I taught was one which involved...

... playing with straws!

I had groups of four to five people collaborating to build the tallest tower using the same number of straws within the same given timeframe. This game provided a chance for the students to practice their teamwork, communication skills, and creativity skills to not just make their towers look good but also to balance the structure in a manner that enables it to withstand the height.

Now, who says uni has to be boring? :P

What doesn't kill you...

I received this in my uni work e-mail. This was apparently shared by a counterpart over at the uni hospital. How embarrassing, I did not realise that we have a chemotherapy ward over at Macquarie University Hospital (MUH).

This video was originally made for Look Good… Feel Better, which is a free community service program dedicated to helping Australians cope with the appearance related side-effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy such as hair loss and changes to the skin. The aims of the program is to help cancer patients manage these side-effects and to help restore their appearance and self image.

It is a very simple video of patients and staff at MUH lip-syncing to Kelly Clarkson's Stronger.

In loving memory of Grandpa and Grandma, who lost their battles with cancer last year.

My birthday in 2011

This year, for the first time in my life, I received a birthday present way in advanced. And it was a really pretty present - a Swarovski snowflake, all thanks to my lovely student. Okay, ex-student/friend.

Then, back home, on the night before the actual day, my Kembangsari girls gave me a surprise disguised in a yumcha session at Little Star Cafe.

I was both happy and embarrassed at the same time, as Miss Teoh's entire extended in-law family was there and helped sing the birthday song! Aiyo, paiseh la but thank you all so much!

After working hard during the first half of my birthday, I spent the rest of the day enjoying myself. Perhaps it was my lucky day, we managed to get a parking spot right after we passed the boom gate. We quickly went up to the cinema to grab our tickets for the current Taiwanese blockbuster, You Are The Apple Of My Eye (那些年, 我們一起追的女孩).

As only single seats were available, we had to settle for Gold Class seats that were side-by-side. Not that I was complaining. It was my first Gold Class experience and it was great. It was worth every fifty-five ringgit spent (because I did not know how comfortable the seats and blanket were!). Will be sharing my thoughts on this movie in a later post.

To fill up our hungry tummies, we dined at Garden Lifestyle Store and Cafe, which now occupies the lot which Little Penang used to occupy. Initially attracted by just their environment, we were later impressed by their food and service, too. More on that soon.

How would my birthday be complete without ice-cream? We went to none other than Häagen-Dazs.

It did not stop there. After I got back to Sydney, I had something cute from a cute person.

Seriously, am just glad that I have all of you in my life.

Happy birthday, Rachel!

My housie did her homework. I think she puts in more effort into doing things for friends secretly than in completing her assignments for uni. I totally get it though, as it is more satisfying to see smiling faces than to devour endless reams of academic notes. So what did she get up to this time?

She managed to get our little Rachie into the house without knowing that there was a whole group of people waiting for her to surprise her:

She managed to get Rachie's boyfriend over from Melbourne:

From all of us:

Hope you liked the surprise!

Happy birthday, Swan!

Yes, her name is Swan. Shwu Woan. And it was her birthday which we celebrated in my home in true floral Victorian fashion. Er, okay, with a mash-up of Malaysian flavours.

The food that she bought included mini cupcakes, mini strawberry and lemon tarts, tea (of some floral, fruity flavour) with scones, strawberry and marshmallows to dip in chocolate, as well as Moscato.

Othilia prepared some other special dishes as main course, Sarawak Laksa and chicken cooked in some special kacang sauce.

The party continued over at Mamak in Chatswood, where Swan and her lovely room and coursemate, Tracy work.

Here is to wishing Swan

a very

Happy 22nd Birthday!

Malaysia Festival 2011

Malaysia Festival two-thousand-eleven, a taste of cultural heaven.


Enlivened by the colours of the Malaysian flag, this year's logo symbolises Malaysia’s favourite drink – the Teh Tarik! The flow of the tea takes the form of iconic landmarks across Sydney and Malaysia, expressing the idea of pouring and sharing the vibrant Malaysian culture with the Australian community.

This would be my eighth M-Fest and my good friend, Logann (the Chief Executive Producer of the event), promises it to be the best. Well, judging from this year's website, it certainly does look like it will be the best!

Organised by the Malaysian student community in Sydney, it will be held at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour, like it has for the past years. This year marks the 21st year of M-Fest and I am looking forward to the cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs Alvin Quah and Billy Law of MasterChef fame.

The event will see 15 of Sydney’s best Malaysian restaurants, including Kopitiam, Mamak, Café Kasturi, Jimmy’s Recipe, Aseana Food Village, Chinta Ria, PappaRoti, Jackie M and Abang Sam, serving traditional Malaysian favourites like the roti, nasi lemak and laksa.

Performances at the event range from traditional Malay, Chinese and Indian dances to today’s celebrated music. This year’s line-up features Malaysian artistes by invitation. Perhaps the most exciting bit about M-Fest is the raffle prize draw with many attractive prizes to be won. And of course, it includes the much wanted return MAS ticket to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Other prizes include food vouchers from M-Fest sponsor restaurants and food hampers.

Hopefully, I would be able to meet some old friends there, as well, as I have managed to in the past.

Only one week to go, people! Sunday, October 9, 2011 will be the day! Come along to this FREE event!

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

A new year, in a new environment with new faces. Good old Miss Moon still shone brightly from above. This year, a simple cheese-baked black pepper beef rice dinner was prepared by yours truly and was enjoyed with housie Jie, PR May Hsien, TR Rachie, newly appointed MSA Social Aaron and his extremely sociable and has-been-to every-event-there-is sidekick, Jeremy.

Dinner was fun mainly due to how the three young ones filled the house with laughter and plenty of lameness.

It was pure entertainment to watch them squabble over everything. Literally.

Oh, and also that little episode where there was a 'How To Use A Lighter 101' tutorial.

Big thank you to Jeremy for getting the Kee Wah Deluxe Mini Mooncakes Gift Box!

Here is to wishing everybody

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival!

中秋节快乐！

We teach who we are

I am glad I dragged myself out of bed early this morning to attend the lecture at 8:00am. Since I told Clare that I would be there, I told myself not to create excuses. And so there I was at the lecture theatre with the other tutors and some fifty-odd students.

This morning, the lecture was presented by a guest lecturer, Dr. William De Jean. And it was one heck of a lecture! If every lecture was as interactive and hyped up as his was, I would attend every single one of them!

The lecture reminded me of some of the lectures that were conducted last year for the same unit. The first questions he asked us to answer were why we were going into teaching and our intentions for doing so. My reply was a slightly selfish one. I am going into teaching (I am teaching) because these is a special feeling of achievement and pride when someone I have taught comes back to say ‘thank you’. I find that such appreciation actually motivates me to be better. So, indirectly, teaching helps me better myself because like what Dr. De Jean kept emphasising throughout his lecture, we teach who we are.

He asked us to read aloud the following questions, which he took out of The Courage to Teach: Exploring the Inner Landscape of a Teacher's Life by Parker J. Palmer, an author, educator, and activist who focuses on issues in education, community, leadership, spirituality and social change:

The question we most commonly as is the “what” question – what subjects shall we teach?

When the conversation goes a bit deeper, we ask the “how” question – what methods and techniques are required to teach well?

Occasionally, when it goes deeper still, we ask the “why” question – for what purpose and to what ends do we teach?

But seldom, if ever, do we ask the “who” question – who is the self that teaches?

He related that back to how we are educated (as opposed to trained) as teachers. We almost always justify our teaching with what is in the best interest of the children. It always is for the children. We almost always not talk about ourselves. What about us? We teach who we are so how can we not place some amount of significance on ourselves?

I liked how he metaphorically referred to our teaching as roadmaps. We have all these directions to follow. We use compasses because we are going places we do not even know. How do we know where we are going with our teaching? Do we know what the creative superminds we are teaching today will create for tomorrow? I think we can only assume that we are laying a foundation for the younger generation. What kind of a foundation will depend on who we are.

Like it or not, our identity is made up not only of who we think we are but also who we think we are not. Dr. De Jean likened it to a beach ball that is being held forcefully underwater. Yes, the beach ball is our shadow and what we suppress will always surface when we are unable to take the pressure any longer. So, what do we truly believe about difference? Do we really treat everyone equally? Do we really know what it feels like to be wearing glasses or to walk with a plastered foot?

What do we truly believe about success? If people work hard, will they really succeed? Does that mean that people who do not succeed are people who are not trying?

What do we truly believe about intelligence? Who do we believe is “smart” and who do we think is not? Who do we believe seems “motivated and who is not? Who do we believe should and should not go to university?

What do we believe about language? What do we laugh at? Why do we say “Hey, guys” when half the crowd is made up of females?

What do we truly believe about gender? How do we believe boys should act? How do we believe girls should act? We get concerned when they do not act the way we think they should.

What do we truly believe or feel when we hear an accent? What are our emotional responses? How is it different if it is French, American, Aboriginal or Spanish? Why do we think that when someone speaks English in a French or Scottish accent sounds beautiful or sexy while a person who speaks English in an Asian accent needs to attend an English speaking course?

How often do we think about our race, gender, sexual orientation, “accent”, nationality, class and language?

How well do we know our selves? Our light, brilliance, gifts, talents, compassion, intuition and healthy boundaries. Our fears, shadows, judgements, hidden belief systems, agendas and grief.

What do we think? What do we feel? To me, I think that there are many challenges in being the teacher we think we can be and I feel that there is a heavy sense of responsibility that comes with it.

Quoting Margaret J. Wheatley (commonly known as Meg Wheatley), a writer and management consultant who studies organisational behaviour with approaches including systems thinking, theories of change, chaos theory, leadership and the learning organisation (particularly its capacity to self-organise),

“The leaders we need are already here.”

If they are already here, our jobs as teachers are to make sure that we make them absolutely fantabulous leaders. Get out our compasses (GPSes?)!

*Unless otherwise hyperlinked, much detail included here were from the lecture slides provided this morning.

Buns for Books!

I came across Mari Kita Membaca (MKM) a few months ago through a friend's facebook page. Literally translated as Let’s Read, MKM is a project to bring books to children living in the rural and under-served areas of Malaysia and to encourage the love of reading.

They believe that by cultivating the love of reading and independent learning they contribute towards empowering local communities. They work closely with grassroots organisations and partners on the ground supporting local initiatives. They take inspiration from the local communities, who despite the lack of resources, work hard to provide education opportunities for their children.

Education, like in any socially stratified society, is the key to breaking the cycle of inequality and discrimination. I have also found this in UNESCO and UNICEF reports, which support the work of their consultants and other personnel in imparting education and care skills to local communities in hard-to-reach areas. They go by the saying of how giving a man a fish will only let him eat for a day whereas teaching a man to fish would help him eat for a lifetime. By equipping the local communities with skills and knowledge, they come to realise the power of education thus would feel motivated and would strive to provide their children with a better future.

Currently, they have provided Library Boxes (the books are packed in lovely boxes!) to Orang Asli (indigenous) villages in Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Johor and Sabah. They also conduct reading activities in many of the villages.

In support of their good work, I managed to get the co-operation of the Malaysian Students Association (MSA) in uni and PappaRoti Australia to help me in raising funds.




A big thank you to Clayton for coming up with the designs above and for being the messenger between the MSA committee and I. Also, a big thank you to Junda and his PappaRoti team for sponsoring the buns.

Look forward to seeing everyone on Wednesday!