On Life and Work

Apropos of nothing, I want to share some of the thoughts that I went through while in HQ.  I know that sometimes (often?) there is a feeling of disillusionment when we think that we are only working for someone else's pleasure and not necessarily for what is 'best for our children, best for Singapore.'

I want to say that as I matured in a HQ environment, I've learnt to pull my own ego back whenever these thoughts come around. Almost always, the genesis of such feelings is because WE THINK WE ARE RIGHT.

I hope I do not sound harsh. If you feel such disillusionment, I would first like to pat you on the back. It tells me that you are passionate about education. Passionate about doing the right things, instead of only doing things right.

But hear me out.
We do not always know what's right. Nor are we going to be right all the time.
Everyone uses his/her own personal judgement to make their decisions.

Before we even come to that, I'd like to ask you. What sort of boss do you THINK you would like?
(a) A boss who follows the instructions of his/her superiors all the time.
(b) A boss who does what he/she thinks is right all the time.

I believe many would choose (b).
I would as well. But I remember a time not too long ago when I was working on a project and I did not entirely agree with my boss (Boss I). When the project went up to the bigger boss (Boss II), I was happy to hear comments that, to me, sounded like many things would be changed.

As I recall, when we went back to the office after that meeting in which I thought 'many things would be changed', the response from Boss I was "That went well. We just need to make a few tweaks to our plan and we should be good to go!"

I was floored!  And so were a few others with me.  In private, we questioned just what the hell Boss I was doing.  It seems that we all heard something vastly different from what he had heard!
We were upset, angry, frustrated that we didn't have the same ideas. Most of all, we were worried that what we were doing would be thrown into the trash by Boss II and we'd have to start from scratch all over again.

I'm sure that back then we were wishing that we had a boss that could follow instructions.
We wanted a type (a) boss.

Do you know what Boss I was doing?
He was exercising his own professional judgement.
He heard the same things we did. But decided to see how best those comments could mesh with his own vision of what the project was to be about.  He was a type (b) boss.

It took me a long time to realise this.  I'm glad that I was never ostracised despite me always wearing my heart on my sleeve on how I sometimes disagreed with Boss I's decisions.

I've realised that leadership is a lonely role.  That you have to balance both expectations from above and below and mesh them with your own vision of how things should be.  And in a field like ours, you almost never know if you were right.

It takes courage and a strong will to go your own way in the face of opposition from your superiors and subordinates.  It takes skill and wisdom to know HOW to go your own way without being condemned by both superiors and subordinates.

It is a balancing act.
Recognising this has made me kinder to bosses. They are people too. And their job isn't easy at all.

I also recognise that the source of my frustrations, besides my passion for education, stems from an implicit assumption that I KNOW WHAT'S BEST.

That, is an amazingly egotistical thought.  In the face of so many others who have been in the industry for so many years and faced so many different situations and challenges in education, I thought I was better than them, smarter than them, more moral than them.

That is why, when they did something I disagreed with, I immediately responded with a "What?! That's ridiculous!", instead of a "What does he see that I don't?"

From here on, read my previous post dated 9th Sept on cynicism.

I'm not saying that we should douse the fire that burns so strongly in us on the importance of education and the work that we are doing. God forbid that that happens.

But the words 'be positive' ring very true if we are to continue in education.
First of all though, I think I have to be humble.

God bless.

Moved!

Hello! We are back from the Newport trip! Though it was a day trip, I found it enriching and somewhat tiring due to the time on the road. In any case, it has also given me time to think through one thing: that I should not compartmentalise my life/ our lives through so many different blogs documenting different aspects of our lives. I thought it would be good to see how my writing or my life (for the matter) has changed over the years and when you looked back, they really do bring sweet memories and also a good depository for me to store certain resources. So, upon reaching home, I merged all blogs together and they are exported and imported successfully.

So, see you there! And take care of yourselves, meanwhile.

Mid-week!

I've got an email from a friend: How is life on the other side of the globe? What keeps you occupied?

Life has been busy for both of us. Ken, without a doubt, has gone full gear with his studies with assignments due each week. For me, apart from planning and preparing for meals, I have been busying myself with going to school.

School? Yup. I have gone to visit an elementary school on Tuesday to offer my service to them. It would not be too much of a commitment, just a few hours and in an area that I'm comfortable with. I was there to chat with the the officer from Boston Connect and to know how I could offer my help. The school was a busy place, as with all schools and I nearly felt a little bad to take up their time. I was apprehensive, of course since I am in a totally different culture and knowing that this is a neighbourhood school, the challenges would be more. But, I believe all these would provide more insights about education in the Boston Public Schools and I'm sure I would learn heaps from the teachers.

Besides that, I attended a self-defence class signed up for me by Ken in his college. I cannot explain in detail here as it is highly confidential =p But it taught some tactics that we could use when faced with danger. I realised too about the weaknesses of my body and though I can last the distance (as in endurance sports), I really am not up for tactical games. My body is just not conditioned for attacks or contacts and I believe that is why I always avoid contact sports. =p There will be a simulation next week and I am so terrified! The facilitators (BC police officers) are so HUGE! How on earth would I be able to escape from their clutches? *sweat*

OK, I have to go back to cooking and baking. My baking stuff came just 5 minutes ago! Yay!

Sunday thots

We had a change in schedule for our Sunday. Instead of the 4pm service, we are now going for the 11am service. Why? Because we have signed up for the honeymooners class at 9.45am and International Fellowship after service at12.45pm. That basically would make our Sundays for fall.

9.30am.

We were early for the class (as usual) because we really couldn't predict how fast or slow the T takes; I find it inconsistent at times. While we roamed around the building and finally hibernated in the Conference room, I was lured by the sounds of children, their singing. As I took a further look, it was a Sunday class and they were learning to sing a certain tune.

I wanted to be back in the classroom again, to be with the children. I find my heart longing for that. I'm not sure if that was an indication from Him (a prayer request) but I would be writing in to a school staff soon to volunteer my time there.

It also occured to me that I should spend my time enriching myself in language arts and in particular, literacy development. I have always been interested in this topic since undergraduate days and Ken has suggested that I try to ask the lecturer if I could audit/sit in the classes. So I went in to her website and look at her syllabus for the course and lo and behold, they were somewhat the same as what I did for my grad years! Even the readings were not too alien to me. So I have to decide if I want to sit in and this would have impact on how I spend allocate my time to the other areas as well. Decisions...decisions...

9.45am.

The participants for the Honeymooners class started streaming in (service had just ended) and there was another Asian couple and we were just thinking if they could be Singaporeans (and indeed they are!). The class started with our very jovial facilitators and we were asked to share about ourselves and one funny thing that happened to our wedding day/honeymoon. Ken and I were stuck. We had none! All others had stories to share (something has gone wrong) and well, we practically just had to share how we brought forward our wedding so that we could turn our travel plans into our honeymoon. Hahaha.... (laugh leh). It was nice to see couples who were so lovey-dovey to each other; it's indeed a great sigh to behold!

11am.

Service started. Walter Kim again!

12.45am.
Went for the International Fellowship. When I stepped into the compound, the immediate thought that came to me was that it was just like how we did it when we were in Youth Fellowship!!! And because this Church attracted a lot of international students and scholars, it basically was like a campus ministry to me. They were very intentional in what they were doing and most were zealous for the Lord. Oh, it reminded me of my days with Campus Crusade and I was like being transported back in history! We had makan session, all prepared by a small groups (the fellowship is made up of various small groups) and followed by worship and Bible Study. We joined one group that was made up of Chinese Canadians, ABC, Hong Konger and Chinese. It was a good meeting and discussion!

The programme director has been very warm towards us and remembered both of us. Said he wanted to introduced a Singaporean couple to us but in the end, I think he has forgotten. I suspect there was indeed a sizeable group of Alamaks in our midst. We just have to wait and see.

2.45pm

The church activities ended and it's back to the two of us again. Well, this could well be how we spend our Sundays. I am looking forward!

Just so you know...

Chicken tastes like chicken.

Lobster tastes like Crab Meat & Potatoes taste like Chips

We've been wanting to try some lobster in Boston for some time now because everyone has been telling us about how ridiculously cheap it was.

It wasn't really a craving or anything. Neither of us is crazy about lobster in particular or even seafood in general. We just thought we should give it a try since everyone has been recommending it so much.

However, we were reluctant to spend the 30+ USD or so just to try some lobster and decided to go down to Shaw's to see if we could just buy some from the Supermart and cook it ourselves!

We went to Shaw's yesterday and found live lobster!! And had no idea how to cook live lobster!!
So we saved that adventure for another day, ended up buying lobster chunks and headed home to prepare lobster rolls!

And that was what we had today for lunch. Lobster rolls and chips!
Even the chips are self made since we decided to buy some potatoes with the lobster rolls and fry them ourselves.

Hence the conclusion. Lobster tastes like crab meat and potatoes taste like chips.

Tonight we find out what chicken tastes like!

Lynn's account is here.

First training

Guess where I went today?

It has something to do with children.
Definitely related to what I was doing.
But then again, I have gone through this before.

Nope. It's not a tour in the Boston Children's Museum though the place I went was close by.

It's Boston Partners in Education and I was there for my training as a volunteer to the elementary schools. It was a 2.5 hours training on literacy and Math and of course, those were stuff that I was and still am familiar with. It's good to have a review and to hear those familiar terms again - zone of proximity, constuctivist model, wait time blah blah. I was excited to go back to school again but yet at the same time fearful because of the difference in cultures. Let's just see how it goes.

When it came to Math, I sensed that the instructor wasn't too happy about the new change to Investigative Math (whatever it is). He was just passing the remark that a lot of ...ahem... educators out there were just waiting for this 'new' thing to pass. Sounds familiar? No? I thought it does =p

I'm real keen to see how's the school scene is like out there in the public schools. Oh! They have chartered schools, innovation schools, pilot schools...so many types of schools. Interesting!