4th Putrajaya International Balloon Festival; 15-18 March 2012

4^th Putrajaya International Balloon Festival; 15-18 March 2012 

The Putrajaya International Hot Air Balloon Fiesta is a home grown event that seems to have gained interest from the public and media. The uniqueness of the event draws everyone from all around Malaysia and neighboring countries for the past 3 years. 

The event is a good one as it encourages family togetherness by having fun with variety of activities for all ages. This was also a good opportunity to have family over and giving them a break from the hectic daily life. I love such getaways and I applaud Putrajaya for having this event for another year running. Keep it coming.

Surprise Services

-          My write up piece here is due to the experience I received on my latest travel to Penang. This is a story on service above and beyond the call of duty and from the most unlikely of sources. I write this piece with a good feeling. The sort of feeling that you feel when you don’t expect to receive something but an amazing feeling to have none the less.

-          The two examples I am quoting here are from the Subaidah Mamak Store & The newspaper vendor near the house in Penang.

-          Story 1: Subaidah Mamak Store

The mamak store scene has developed leaps and bounds with the modernisation of technology. Long story short, the waiter just had to ‘key in’ a few codes into his little tablet (replacing the paper scribbles and shouting across the shop) and the ‘chef’ straight away receives the order chit and produces the order in a flash straight to where I was waiting in approximately 2 minutes. Pretty impressive.

 

-          Story 2: The newspaper vendor near my house

A routine newspaper run gave me some perspective in doing work. As my car approaches the newspaper man offered me The Star newspaper in a very warm and kind manner and in perfect English. However I took The New Straits Times instead. Lesson from this was that:

i)                    Public Relations makes a difference in making new customers and keeping loyal ones

ii)                   Taking pride in your job is evident on your faces

iii)                 Assumption/Predicting in advance is a powerful tool of efficiency

iv)                 It gives an impression when you don’t expect service above and beyond the call of duty  

Thank You For Inspiring Us To Aspire For Better Tok Abah

Every 20^th of the month reminds me of my late tok abah (grandfather). This write-up is not in any way a boasting fest but more of a sign of respect to a man who has been such an inspiration to many including myself. Having a road after your name is not something that occurs every day but unlike any other person, tok abah was an extraordinary man. Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng in his speech on 14 Mac 2012 at the officiating ceremony sums it up with the following:

“Tun Haji Hamdan bin Sheikh Tahir dikenali umum bukan saja sebagai Tuan Yang Terutama Gabenor Pulau Pinang tetapi juga sebagai seorang tokoh pendidik dan pegawai pendidikan yang terkemuka serta sebagai Naib Canselor kedua USM. Dilahirkan pada 27 April 1921 di Pulau Pinang dan mendapat pendidikan awal di Madrasah Haji Taib, Parit Jamil, Muar, Johor. Pada tahun 1939, beliau mendapat biasiswa untuk melanjutkan pelajaran ke Raffle’s College.

Para hadiri sekalian,

Sumbangan khidmat beliau dalam bidang pendidikan terus melebar bila dilantik untuk berkhidmat sebagai Canselor Universiti Sains Malaysia yang kedua dari tahun 1976 hingga 1982. Dalam tempoh perkhidmatan tersebut banyak sumbangan dan perubahan yang beliau telah lakukan termasuk mempelopori penubuhan Pusat Pengajian Sains Perubatan dan penubuhan Kampus Cawangan Kelantan. Pada tahun 1983 hingga 1985 beliau berkhidmat sebagai Wakil Tetap dan Duta Malaysia ke UNESCO di Paris. Ketokohan beliau yang terserlah dalam bidang pentadbiran membawa kepada pelantikan sebagai Tuan Yang Terutama Yang di-Pertua Negeri Pulau Pinang pada 1 Mei 1989. Sumbangan beliau yang luas dalam dunia pendidikan mendapat penghargaan dan pengiktirafan di peringkat nasional dan antarabangsa.

Para Hadirin Sekalian,

Bekas T.Y.T. Yang Dipertua Negeri Pulau Pinang ini telah menabur begitu banyak sumbangan dan bakti bagi memastikan kualiti pendidikan rakyat Malaysia dan Pulau Pinang terjamin.

Sehubungan itu, Kerajaan Negeri amat berbesar hati memilih dan menamakan Jalan Bertam ke Jalan Kubang Menerong sepanjang 7.3 kilometer kepada Jalan Tun Hamdan Sheikh Tahir sebagai tanda penghargaan terhadap sumbangan dan bakti yang telah diberikan oleh beliau kepada rakyat Negeri Pulau Pinang. Jalan tersebut bermula dari hadapan Pejabat Pos Kepala Batas ke persimpangan Jalan Pokok Jenerih, Tasek Gelugor. Pemilihan jalan ini adalah kerana sepanjang laluan tersebut terdapat beberapa institusi pendidikan terdiri dari Malaysia Productivity Corporation, Allianze University College of Medical Sciences, Institut Latihan Perindustrian, Maktab Rendah Sains Mara, Sekolah Menengah Sains dan UiTM.

Di laluan ini juga terdapat Masjid Daerah Kepala Batas, Seberang Perai Utara. Pemilihan jalan ini adalah bertepatan dengan sumbangan dan minat Tun Hamdan Sheikh Tahir terhadap bidang pendidikan. Kerajaan Negeri berharap usaha ini sedikit sebanyak akan membangkitkan rasa kecintaan kepada tokoh terbilang anak negeri kita oleh rakyat terutamanya golongan muda yang lahir selepas zaman beliau dan seterusnya dijadikan contoh untuk memastikan kejayaan di dalam kehidupan.”

To me…he is still & forever would be my tok abah…and his memory & legacy lives on.

woman at work

it's been almost 2 months since i've started working at the uni and i still think that i have not gotten the hang of it. the novelty of the posher, more privileged ambiance of both the university and the students have faded away, but the challenge of teaching and other tasks that come with it can still make my heart beat faster, but not in that good 'yeay! i love a challenge' sort of way, more of an 'oh..............s***' way.

a few weeks ago, we had supper with a good friend who asked me how work was like. she asked if my students liked me because i was different and i teach them differently about different things and that i showed them the light and taught them to reach for the stars. i scoffed despite her genuinely glimmering eyes. because the thing is, i used to have the same romantic notions of myself if i ever were to become a teacher; i wanted to be like miss frizzle from the 'magic school bus' or miss honey from dahl's 'matilda'. how amazing would it be to be a teacher who COULD make her students learn SOMETHING, to allow them to DISCOVER their potentials and to help them become the BEST of themselves. how fulfilling and how satisfying and how gratifying to be able to live and make that type of difference in someone's life. but now, after a few years of intermittent but various teaching positions, i've discovered that it is not always possible if you don't live in a book or a movie.

Miss Frizzle, Lizzie and the Magic School bus off to an adventure in a volcano

when i taught debate to school students, i never felt that i was really making a difference in their lives; sometimes, as the weeks go by and i see no improvement, i feel disappointed with myself. but i always change my mind when i see them compete; it certainly is magical to see them perform so well under pressure. i then realize that they do learn, but they just never see the point of using what they learn or just never have the chance to when it's just between his peers and the teacher. but in situ, they often take my breath away. as cliched as it sounds, a teacher's reward is slow to obtain, but when it is, it is so completely worth it. and that is why i stuck to training school kids even if the money was pittance - that bond you build, if the stars are aligned, is magical.

but i don't think i've felt that magic in the current job. though i have yet to meet extremely rude students, they are quiet and unresponsive, no matter how i try to get them to respond to the world's simplest questions on communication or tense use. this would still be fine if they were actually responsible for their own learning, but they are not. i've probably asked them to download their own module outline (which should have been done by themselves in week 1) a million times, and it's already week 5. the blase attitudes about assignments and tutorial preparation grate my nerves. though i may not teach extremely technical subjects like business law, i do expect a basic level of preparedness before i start a class. but it seems i'm the only person in the class who thinks so. ohwellsigh.

then i think about what i am whining about and i pinch myself. because i am thinking of the students from my perspective of a teacher. i have too many expectations, i am too pedantic and i am too quick to judge. obviously, as a teacher, i have to have these qualities, but maybe i need to give myself some space and look at it from the students' point of view. 'having to start a class at 8am and learning things that i don't think are important for my life will obviously make me bored and unresponsive. or maybe, as a student, i just don't feel like speaking in a class. after all, i do not need to satisfy the teacher's need for instant gratification; i need time to absorb and understand what she's saying. '. maybe that's what the students are thinking. even if it's not, that's what i think they're thinking (because they're more likely to be thinking 'i need time to think about how to destroy melissa who is trying to steal my boyfriend and what i want to have for lunch and which bag i should wear with tomorrow's outfit'). it's the only way that i won't one day strangle them and get sued by their terribly rich parents.