EXPLORED & DISCOVERED: SOKULLU SEHIT MEHMET PASA MOSQUE

In the early morning of the second day, as we did not know what to do and we had a lot of time to kill, so we went exploring to the residential area in Sultanahmet. The place looked a bit ancient but there were still real people living there and it was already buzzing with activities of people going to work and teens to school. Then, we found this old mosque which was much smaller and perhaps to accommodate the small village with fewer population. From the signage on the wall, which was written in Turkish, the mosque could be built or completed in 1571 and the mosque is still standing after more than four centuries.
 

 

 

 

We just stayed outside and observed the exterior of the mosque. Click HERE to read more about the mosque or to see how the inside might look like.

BOOK REVIEW - "THE KING'S SPEECH"

"When a fresh patient came to me the usual query is "Will I be able to speak like the King?" and my reply is: "Yes, if you will work like he does." I will cure anyone of intelligence if they will only work like you did - for now you are reaping the benefit of this tremendously hard work you did at the beginning." (page 202)

This is the story of Lionel Logue, an Australian who migrated to London with his other family members and later worked as a speech therapist to King George Vl, the late father of the present Queen Elizabeth, the Queen of England. He had successfully cured the acute stammer problem the King was facing and turned him into a good public speaker. During that time, people listened attentively to others' speeches and remarks and critiques were made based on what they had listened to. The moral of the story: public speaking is seriously scary. 

Other than reading the remarkable work done by Logue, the readers could learn a bit of the history of the British monarch, the lifestyle of the royalty in Buckingham Palace and London during World War ll.  It was a good read, factual and yet entertaining and educational at the same time.

Believe it or not, I bought the original DVD of the movie of the same title but I haven't watched it yet. Now I better go and find where it is. 

MSSJ 2013 - THE THIRD DAY

SUNDAY, 24th FEBRUARY ~ It was the last day of the tournament, finally. As usual, we had to make sure these kids could get their decent meal in the morning. This time, we just visited a humble stall selling nasi lemak, roti canai, teh tarik, etc.

There were two more rounds before the winners for all the categories could be determined. 

This was basically what these people do in between games. Most of the time, either they played chess or something else. Eat chess, drink chess, sleep chess.

I managed to get the team members to pose for the last time in our yellow team t-shirts but I could not get the under 18 boys together. *sigh*

  

the JB team officers

The moment everybody was waiting for, the announcement of the winners and the prize-giving ceremony was finally here. The Johor Bahru team was declared the second runner up this year (we we the champion last year). Congratulations to all the team members who had played and contributed points for the team.

And that wraps up the report of this year's state level competition. Until we meet again next year, "Majulah Sukan Untuk Negara" (TRANSLATE: let's develop sports for the country).

SMK Taman Universiti's players

SMKTUN's ex-student who was there

my ex-student who is now a teacher but with the Kulai team

MSSJ 2013 - THE SECOND DAY (PART 2)

SMK Taman Universiti's players at the state level competition

One of my job specifications as a team manager (I think) was to take as many photographs as possible. One of the challenges was to get people to sit together in one group. However, I managed to get them (READ: forced them) to sit still for a few seconds before they started to move around again and disappeared from my sight.

GIRLS UNDER 12

BOYS UNDER 12

GIRLS UNDER 15

BOYS UNDER 15

GIRLS UNDER 18

BOYS UNDER 18

the endless waiting

a job that requires a high level of patience

Then, we the teachers had to make sure that these kids were well fed. And we fed them with food that they liked.

cutting the cake with the birthday song  being sung in the background

Someone celebrated his birthday (which should be a belated celebration). We could only get him a cake on the second day and every team member, students and teachers alike, shared the money to buy the birthday cake. *Happy birthday, Yap Quan You*

the PT presenting the present to the newly-wed

The teachers also got a wedding present for Mr. Tey who had just tied the knot. So it was not only just an ordinary dinner, but we had also celebrated two important events in one evening.

Enough of celebrating in the same red shirt from early morning until evening, we all went back to the hotel feeling happy but tired. (We only at the cake at 10 p.m. at the hotel as everybody was still full at the time the cake was cut)