Symbols and Foreign Letters

fabric softener (pink)  and dishwashing liquid (yellow)

I mistakenly opened a pack of dishwashing liquid taking it for a fabric softener.  It's a good thing that I realized my mistake while mixing it with water:  it formed so much bubbles and the smell wasn't quite right - you know what I mean.  Confused, I looked at the pack closely and realized that it's dishwashing liquid - the symbol on the pack says so!  Oh, if only I know how to read Thai.  It's a good thing though that I wasn't THAT excited to put my washed clothes right in, it would have been additional load (not that my clothes mind the second washing).

(Originally posted on 19 December 2008)

mish mash

Family traditions are family traditions.  That’s why even if I am on my first New Year’s celebration away from home; I still forced myself to overcome my laziness (hey, it’s still Christmas break and I am entitled to being lazy) and went to the supermarket this afternoon to buy 12 kinds of fruits and other stuff to usher in the new year.  When I got to the supermarket, I realized that it’s not only me who is preparing for tonight (I thought Thais celebrate New Year in April during the oh-so-famous Songkhran Festival), there were a lot of people doing their last minute buys.  I even saw David, my department head, following a line to the cashier’s! 

As always, I ended up buying more than the stuff that I was planning to buy.  It’s a good thing that TOPS Supermarket offers free home delivery for purchases beyond 1,000 baht.

And when I got home, I tackled the house cleaning and then arranged the fruits in the fruit basket and offer these for a more bountiful 2009.  Oh, I ended up offering some eggs, too!  And some mint chocolates and cookies! J

Happy new year and all the best for 2009!  The present year is full of learning experiences for me and there wasn’t a dull moment especially during the second half of the year.  I cherish every heartbeat of 2008 and I am as always thankful to God Almighty for my family, aunties, uncles, cousins, friends, colleagues, everyone whose paths crossed mine in any way.  I love life and I love living it, and am thankful for this chance to live it the way I wanted.  Nothing is perfect and that is precisely why life is spectacular!

Hail Mary!

(Originally posted on 31 December 2008)

Back @ Work

After 7 weeks of summer bliss I am back to the drawing board again and this time with one more preparation (Physical Science for Grade 9) AND 48 students more compared to last year's.  And oh, one more class to teach, too!  (One AP Chemistry class, 3 upper school Chemistry classes, and 2 upper school Physical Science classes.)  We are only in our second week of school and already I am to my forehead with papers to mark.  It's not that I am whining (actually, I am, but only to myself), it's just that I still have to "learn" how to NOT go through my students' handed-in in-class or bring-home assignments thoroughly.  One would think that after almost 10 years of teaching I'd learn the art of skimming over students' papers but no, I still don't and when my lesson reaches Stoichiometry, oh boy, you rarely can find me online.  But oh well, I love my job (what job can give you a 2-months paid summer break, a one week break in October, a 2-week vacation in December, a one-week vacation for the Chinese New Year, a one week spring vacation, plus all those free Saturdays and Sundays and many long weekends?  And oh, the opportunity to travel, travel, travel?) that's why for most part of the year, I say to myself (albeit convincingly) that I love my job and I don't want to be a chemist confined to the walls of the laboratory again.  I love teaching, teaching, teaching!!!!  

Uh wait, how many days until the October break again?  Ugh!!!

(Originally posted on 18 June 2009)