Hey fellas, I have moved to new site:

http://stevescribbles.wordpress.com/

See y'all there! :)

In the previous post, I did say about my anticipation for a good news regarding the placement to school. I was - or should I say 'am' because I'm still hoping at the moment - hoping that the good news will come soon. In January to be exact. 

And today, while doing my current daily routine of browsing through my twitter page, something caught my attention. Is this a good omen?

Forget about the first few sentences. This particular one caught my attention: "B.Ed Tesl graduates (both graduated in June & Nov 2012 *typo?*, DPLI & IPTA graduates who passed the SPP interview recently will get be posted in Jan 2012"

Whatever it is, I hope what everyone's being hoping/praying for all these while will soon become reality. And yes, I also hope I pass the SPP interview. It's the prerequisite requirement before I get to be posted to school. 

And as for now, I'm just hoping for the best. Just wait and see. The time will come. Sooner or later.

I've lost count on how many times I've been apologizing for not updating this blog. I mean, are there even people who bother to wait for me to update my blog? :)

Anyway, today I feel like updating this blog although I have nothing special in particular to be posted here. Just an update of my current being at the moment; I am still unemployed and that also means I am financially broke. There's no good news regarding the placement to school as of yet but I know sooner or later the time will come. It's almost a surreal feeling that I (together with the other C4 peeps) have been holding this unemployed status for 8 months! 

I would be lying if I am not feeling devastated to the fact that I've yet to be posted to the school and start earning money. I did feel so frustrated before but I think I have so-called 'moved on' and after all I do not have any other options, do I? I would also be lying if I say I am not anticipating any great news every now and then. Whenever I go to my Facebook page, I would expect some good news shared by fellow C4 in the group's page. Nevertheless, as for now, I am just going to wait for the official announcement and I am crossing my fingers that it is going to be real soon. Say, January perhaps? God speed. 

I believe there are reasons on why all of the C4 graduates (that includes me, of course) being dragged into this predicament - be it good or potentially-stupid reasons! Be nice to say, I believe there's blessing in disguise although that means I have to go through this long period of waiting.

As for now, one of the things that I am currently excited for now is definitely the coming of Christmas Day! It is definitely the time of the year where families gather together and share the joyful moments. We are literally 7 more days till Christmas Day. In terms of preparation, there's nothing much from my side. I decided not to buy new clothes or whatnot for this coming festive season. Not to say that I can't buy it. I can always ask my parents for 'favour' but I just decided not to. I still have almost-looked-like-new clothes in my closet. 

I guess that's it for now friends. Till my next post (and yes, I do not know when!). Have a great day!

This supposedly to be posted here days ago but anyway here it goes...

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The title of this post speaks it all - I'm going to share with you my experience during that important interview. Well, it all started on that one particular fine day when I logged on to Facebook and I saw a tiny red box on that notifications button on the top left hand corner of the page. So, I clicked on it and was then directed to a group's page - a group page that belongs to the at-the-moment-unemployed creatures of the earth a.k.a TESL graduates of 2011.  There, I saw a post saying that the status for the interview can be accessed by us starting on that day onwards. Yours truly then clicked the link provided in the post and a page popped out. The page required me to fill in my IC number. So, after filling my IC number, the page appeared and it didn't show me the expected result. Yeah. My name was not in the record. I didn't feel bad about because I was confident enough that the information will be updated sooner or later and my name will appear in the system. On the next day, I checked the page again and as expected, my name's already in the system. The interview date for me was set on the 23rd November 2011 at SPP (Wisma BSN, Kota Kinabalu). Call time was stated as 7.30 am. From that day onwards, the group page was filled with so-called notes for all of us to read as preparation for the upcoming interview and all of a sudden, life (for most of us who are still jobless) became 'meaningful' again. LMAO! People started discussing on various topics mostly on the so-called hot topics (i.e. MBMMBI, NKRA etc). I consulted one of my friends who had attended the interview earlier this year and asked him to share his experience. He told me that his interview session was more like a 'sharing' session and of course he was asked about theoretical items, policies and whatnot. 

As the day's approaching, I get a little bit nervous as I knew I couldn't 'digest' all those fact into my memory. I'm not really good at memorizing things but exceptions should be given to song lyrics though! :) Anyway, I did prepare myself by forcing myself to read the notes that I got from the Internet. 

Finally, the most awaited day arrived. I woke up as early as 5 in the morning. Before leaving for the interview, I checked all my documents for the very last time just to make sure everything's ready in that file and well-sorted. I left the house at about 6.30 am and drove mom to work first before heading to Wisma BSN. Once I reached there, I saw few people smartly dressed waiting at the entrance. So, after I parked my car, I walked towards the entrance and met few familiar faces. Had a little chit-chat with them. It was probably about 7 in the morning, a lady asked to go upstairs. To cut the story short, before the interview started, everyone had to consult the lady the counter for a brief documents check-up. It was just to make sure that all the documents are ready for the interview. Everyone was also divided into few groups: five persons per session. I was in the 2nd group. The four of us were all from TESL background and the other one was from the Arts option (DPLI). 

The interview in a nutshell:

  SELF-INTRODUCTION: 

The five of us all introduced ourselves in BM. It was kind of awkward because it was very rare for me to introduce myself formally with few extra details about myself. So, made it short and simple: "Selamat pagi datuk. Nama saya Steve George, berasal dari Kota Kinabalu dan berbangsa Kadazandusun. Saya mengambil opsyen TESL dari program berkembar antara Institut Perguruan Batu Lintang, Kuching, Sarawak dengan Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Saya menjalani praktikum di SMK Jugra, Banting Selangor pada tahun lepas." That's it. I didn't know what else to say after the last sentence. :)

THE 1ST QUESTION:

The five of us were extremely nervous and waited for the question. Suddenly, the interviewer took a newspaper from the table and showed us the health section. The article was about SMOKING and then the interviewer asked us 'How to EDUCATE students on curbing the smoking habit'. All of us smiled. So, the Q&A began and I decided to be the last person person to answer. Reason? I was buying myself time to think about the so-called good answer for that particular question. Pfft! My colleagues gave various good answers and when it was my turn I remembered mentioning about the importance of the teacher to be a role model to students and the 'education' should start from the early level of education; pre-school level. I also mentioned about the relevance of showing the 'graphic' causes of smoking to the students and let the students make inference based on their observation and at the end of the day, it's up to the students to decide; to smoke or not to smoke. Most importantly, teachers should impart good moral values. I did elaborated my answer but I couldn't really recall everything that I said. I was extremely satisfied with my answer though. 

2ND QUESTION:

The question was about fun learning - how to make a fun lesson in the classroom. This one was certainly not a problem for all of us. I mentioned about making the lesson interesting in accordance to the national education policy (JERI). I also mentioned about the usage of ICT - which is common nowadays. Other than that, I did mention the relevance of language lab and even utilizing the social networking sites as part of teaching material - if possible. The elaboration went on and on. I got so carried away and I think I spoke non-stop for more than 5 minutes when suddenly I remembered I was not the only one being interviewed in that room! Erk! Anyway, I also remembered saying, 'teaching is a combination of science and arts; science comes from the pedagogical aspect and arts from the teachers' creativity'. That was my closing statement. *wink*

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There were only TWO questions and no questions related to policies or whatnot were asked at all! The interview took us exactly ONE hour. Nevertheless, I felt good about the interview and I believe my other counterparts felt the same way too. We walked out the room with glowing smile! :) And yes, instantly, we were swarmed by the remaining candidates and were asked about what questions were asked. :) To so-called celebrate the 'freedom' from the interview, we all went to treat ourselves a good meal at McD Center Point. 

That's all folks! 

Sorry for the delay. Again. Yours truly was preoccupied with so many important matters lately. Anyway, in this post, like I promised before, I'll summarize my visit to Thailand recently.

Here we go.

The journey:
On the day we embarked our journey from KK (Kota Kinabalu International Airport) to Bangkok (Suvarnabhumi International Airport), it took us approximately 6 hours to reach Bangkok. Our flight first stopped at Brunei for about an hour before continuing the journey to our destination - Bangkok. Everybody was excited (including yours truly) when the captain announced that the plane was currently entering Thailand's air territory. Yes. So sakai. Lol! There were several incidents of turbulence during the flight but it was not that bad as the pilot managed to maneuver the plane professionally. Kudos to the pilot! On the other hand, the journey from the airport to the hotel was kinda an eye-opening for us. I mean, that was the time when we really had the opportunity to witness the destruction brought by the massive flood. Houses, business premises, factories and of course the road/highway were submerged. Luckily, the taxi driver knew the route well and took the alternative road (i.e. not affected by the flood) although it was a tad bit far from the usual highway; according to the driver.   

The hotel:

We didn't stayed at a 5-star hotel simply because we can't afford it. Yes. The trip was strictly limited by our already limited budget. Sigh. Nevertheless, we managed to find a budget hotel and it was located right in the heart of Bangkok. Most importantly, it was NOT affected by the flood! Although it was a budget hotel but it didn't looked like one. It was fancy! If I were to compare it with a hotel here in KK, I would compare it with Tang Dynasty hotel. Like seriously. The service was superb! A 5-star service I would describe it. The room was just fine; nothing extremely fancy or extravagant. Nevertheless, it was well-equipped with necessary things like high-pressure shower (with heater), clean toilet, hair dryer (not a common thing found in a budget hotel, mind you), 21 inch TV (with quite a generous number of channels although most of it are in Thai), phone (duh!), air-conditioner (a must!) and most importantly, FREE wi-fi. What more can I ask for? The hotel was super strategic. It's located only few blocks away from the famous night market and major shopping malls. 

The itinerary:

If you've read my previous post, you would noticed that I mentioned about a brochure I found at the hotel's lobby. It became our main source of information throughout our stay there! We wanted to go to the so-called must-visit places in Bangkok but unfortunately not all are accessible at that particular period of time due to the flood situation. Therefore, we narrowed down our options to few places - located near to our hotel and easily accessible by walking and public transportation. Somehow, after an impromptu plan, we ended up visiting Pattaya - located at southeast of Bangkok. Well, as some of you might know, Pattaya is famous with its nightlife and the must-visit place would definitely be the place called the Walking Street. It's more like Changkat area at Bukit Bintang; difference is - it's 'wilder'. Prostitution (no offense) is rampant but we didn't go there for that. We did some club hopping though. Here are some of the places that we visited in Pattaya: Walking Street (nightlife yo!), Pattaya Floating Market (love the foods!!), Outlet Mall Pattaya (you people should go here if you want to find reasonable branded items! Yours truly ended up buying 2 pairs of Adidas shoes!) and the bazaars (mostly for souvenirs). Back to Bangkok; we didn't get to visit many places in Bangkok though. We, however, spent most of our time there by food-hunting (street food in particular). Bangkok is blessed with so many hawkers selling mouth-watering street food. I got the chance to taste the authentic Tom Yam Khung (or Gung). There were many kinds of food we tasted and our tummies were well-taken care of - bloated/protruding all day long! We also visited the malls (duh!), and my favourite one would definitely be the Siam Paragon mall. It's huge! It somehow reminded me of Pavilion KL though. Watching movie at Siam Paragon was a totally different experience. I felt like watching movie at cinema for the first time (this might sound over-dramatic). The screen was huge!! And their 3D glasses were much funkier than the ones we had here in Malaysia. Oh yes. The cinema's called IMAX.   

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Bangkok (or Thailand in general) is definitely a place that I'll visit again someday. I hope the flood will subside soon so that I'll get the chance to visit other places. I'll come again for sure but I've to save money for that. Sigh. POSTING Y U NO COME?? Yours truly needs ka-ching for the next trip! 

Thailand, แล้ว จะ มา ใหม่ ครับ (I'll be back).

สวัสดี ครับ (Bye).

So, let me share with you more on our recent trip to Thailand.

We arrived at the hotel in the evening and all of us decided to take a quick rest since the journey from KK to Bangkok took us approximately 6 hours (including the journey from the airport to the hotel) therefore all of us were drained! I did take my nap. It was just about 30 minutes as I was extremely excited to explore the city. Pfft! Anyway, the others were still sleeping and I did not want to wake them up. So, I headed down to the lobby and wandered around the hotel - to gaze at the wonderful ambiance of the hotel. I sat down at lounging corner and read several brochures just to have some ideas on the interesting whereabouts in Thailand; particularly in Bangkok. There was a list of must-visit places in the brochures that caught my attention.

While I was going through the list, a tourist, a Caucasian dude - judging from his accent, I assumed he's an Aussie - greeted me and we started a brief conversation.

"You're not local, are you?" He asked.

"Nope. I'm Malaysian" I answered.

**Few introductory exchanges**

"So what brings you here?" He inquired.

"I'm here for a trip with my family" I told him and smiled.

"You do know about the current situation here right?" again he asked.

"Yeah, we didn't expect it's going to be this bad. Besides, we've planned this trip from early this year so here we are now. Hahahaha!"

"So, you're here for a vacation as well I supposed?" I tried to change the direction of the conversation. *Grin*

"Kinda. Well, actually I'm here to be part of the volunteer team to help the flood victim" He said.

**and the conversation went on**

I was impressed with him. He came all the way from Australia to help the Thai flood victims. A very good Samaritan indeed.

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After that brief conversation with Mr. Good Samaritan from Australia, I headed back to the room to wake the rest of the team because I was super hungry! And I wanted my doses of authentic Thai food. *Wink*
After all were ready, we went out for food hunting but before that, we went to the counter at the lobby to ask few suggestions from the receptionist. She was kind enough to provide us with ample suggestions. Oh, by the way, her name was Pia, the gorgeous and kind Pia. *wink*

To our surprise, the place suggested by Pia was only few minutes walk from the hotel. It was like a Pasar Malam area where you can find a vast choices of street food. There were so many stalls and the place actually reminded me of Gaya Street in KK and Jalan Alor in KL. So that night, I opted for the authentic Thai Tom Yam for dinner. That was the first time I ever tasted the original Tom Yam or better known as Tom Yam Khung. Super spicy but I loved it so much. My cousins ordered different type of food from the menu. Yes. They did prepare menu for tourists. Convenient eh?  

After dinner we went for a walk around that area to find something to munch to be brought back at the hotel. Once we got what we wanted we walked back to the hotel with our bloated tummy. :)

That night, I showed my cousins the brochure that I took frm the lobby and we then continued planning our trip. Talking about last minute planning. Luckily I found the brochure otherwise we would not have any clue about the places that we wanted to visit on that trip.

**My next post would be the summary of our visit in Thailand.**

Be right back!!