BIDDING FAREWELL TO OUR PRINCIPAL, PUAN NILAM OTHMAN

Puan Nilam binti Othman, the fifth Principal of SMK Taman Universiti, was spending her last day as a teacher and an administrator in school today. We were throwing her a small celebration to bid her farewell a day before her retirement. Here's the report of the event in brief:

the arrival of the beloved principal

welcoming silat performance

salutation from the uniform units

STUDENTS' PERFORMANCE:
Malay dance by Indian students

choir group

silat demonstration

the 70's dance of the agogo era by the special education students
[They were really entertaining. I would say if this was a competition, they would emerge the winner]

traditional Chinese dance

solo singer singing "Pelangi Petang"

Indian dance

"nasyid" performance

when my time comes, will I get many presents?

the feast for the guests of PPD officer, PTA's committee members and principals of other schools

punching the attendance card out for the last time

teachers waiting their turns to say "goodbye"

sending off in a horse-cart

And if you went back late, you would have the chance to take a personal photo with the horse which had become the centre of attraction!

Right after this celebration, there was another event held at the surau which was a special prayer and I would try to report that later. The next formal gathering is a farewell dinner tomorrow after school - something that we teachers are looking forward to. Now I need to see what I should wear.

MY FRIDGE MAGNETS ARE NOT FRIDGE MAGNETS ANYMORE

I used to stick those fridge magnets on where they should be, the fridge. However, when I got a new one (three years ago), I had stopped doing that. As fridge magnets would be something that people used to get me after coming back from holidays as souvenirs because they are cheaper and easy to carry, so I have these few in my collection. Not knowing where to put them, I opted for another spot: MY COMPUTER CPU casing.

My question is: will this in any way do any harm to my computer hardware? Or will this cause any data loss? IT experts, please answer.

I also have some key chains given by people. One of these days, I will get them posted in my blog.

JUDGING MARCHING COMPETITION AT SM TEKNIK PERDAGANGAN

I was invited to judge a marching competition held by SMK Teknik Perdagangan, Johor Bahru. The event went smoothly and just as the last team had finished their presentation, it started to rain.







Too bad, we did not have any marching competition in school this year. It was an event everybody was looking forward to but it was not done, for reasons I do not know.

OPEN DAY 2011 - THE SECOND ONE

The annual open day was held today. This was the second one. The first one was held early in January. Parents and students started arriving as early as 7:00 a.m. We thanked God for the good weather.

with Mr. Azman Manas, my ex-teacher cum my students' father

prefects on duty

Kadet Bomba boys on duty

A few clubs and societies took the opportunity to display their marketing skills by setting up food stalls. And business was really good.

blooming entrepreneurs

fresh from the pan

special education students' stall

the prefects

mobile salesgirls

The consultation sessions between the teachers and parents [and the sulking students] were carried out in the classrooms and also in the hall.

with the tallest student in school (I suppose)

teachers who were supposed to welcome all the parents at the end of the day

the parking attendants' duty was finally over

Thanks to all the parents who had made all the effort to come to school today. Their presence showed their concern for their children's education and future.

MEETING AN OLD FRIEND FROM SCHOOL AGAIN

When Mr. Shamsul Akmal informed me that he would be coming to Johor Bahru from Kuala Lumpur again, I was excited beyond description. It is always a pleasure to welcome an old friend from school again, and again, even though the chat topics would always centralize on the past [and mostly horrible] life in a boarding school. How could misery and suffering become something exciting to talk about for hours is something I could not understand.

mee rebus

yong tau fu, JB style

So we had our dinner at Kampung Melayu as my friend had a craving for "mee rebus". And after that I even managed to take him for a tour around Johor Bahru before sending him back to his hotel in Senai.

the cat at the stall, might not be directly related to the content of the blog

So it was just a short meeting but it was people would call quality time. So hopefully he will have more work to do in Johor Bahru in the future so we can have more frequent meetings and perhaps with other ex-schoolmates as well.

TUNE HOTEL, KOTA BHARU

This was the hotel I stayed in for three nights in Kota Bharu. It was a brand new one, was just opened about a month before. It is located at about half an hour walk from Siti Khadijah Market and situated right next to Kota Bharu Mall.

The rate was reasonable, with tax and all the package cost about RM80++. Nevertheless, do not get too excited because there was catch behind the tag line "you pay for what you are using". For example, if you want to use the hotel towel and toiletries, you have to pay for them and plus, a deposit of RM10 needed to be surrendered at the counter just in case you would love the towel so much and run home with it. For my 3-night stay,the package included air-conditioner usage for 12 hours and TV service for 24 hours. And after that, for extra usage, I had to pay more.



There was an internet kiosk at the lobby and usage was free of charge but that must had been included in the package offered.

it has now officially become my bookmark

Nevertheless, I was quite happy staying there. Nothing much to complain as I was always on the move and only spent the time in the room for less than twelve hours a day. For backpackers, this could be an option if you want a bit of luxury once in a while.