Manusia oh manusia.

of my kiddies.

Its been a little over one month since the students started their semester break.

Although I am enjoying the relaxed and free time I have right now, sometimes I do miss those little brats (little lah sangat kan!)

Yesterday I received a text message:

"Salam miss, how are you? Really missed our bio class.. (ok sambung dengan soalan bio)"

Oh adik-adik, I missed you guys too!! Tapi honestly malas nak start teaching lagi. Rindu saja. Kuangkuang.

I missed their laughters and crazy jokes in class. When I teach, I tried to be in their shoes. Who would want a boring and lengthy (Biology some more!) lecture at 2.00 in the afternoon? Hence, I would be a little lenient with them. Sometimes, I dismissed them early hehe.

You know all the bio facts won't be able to get into their heads in the afternoon. They've had classes straight from 8.00am. Hence, I usually tell more stories (sometimes related to bio, sometimes not).

I tell stories about being abroad (They loved it since they are going abroad as well) - Highly requested by them.

How to survive there.

What's the environment like.

I told them that, if you feel like doing A-level is difficult (they whine about the tight schedule, heaps of assignments etc).. think again. Betul-betul nak jadi doktor ke? I also tell stories about my friends who are doing medicine and currently in the HO years. Its hell. I told them all that.

Not to scare them, but to make them realize that life is not going to get any easier. Especially when you are doing medicine. Once you are in your HO, A-level ni korang rasa boleh buat tutup sebelah mata je dik oi!

I treat them as my little doctors.

But I treat them as humans as well.

Sometimes they are tired, 3 topic tests in a week. So I gave them an extension for the submission of lab reports. Nak hantar awal-awal pun buat apa kan? Macam la aku mark awal. Ahaks.

Its fun and warming to see their attentive faces during my lectures.

Their scynchronized laughters once I crack a joke (well a lot of jokes).

Their disgusted faces once I showed them photos of blocked arteries full of fatty deposits, or a yucky bacteria.

OK. Ni cikgu yang gelak over. (I may be included, heh)

Well you see..

Teaching bio is my core business.
But teaching them how to get through life is my goal.

The biology facts are surely going to help them get through A-levels (and Med school).
However, (from experience haha) those facts will be gone not long after they finished exams.


But the advice and experiences I told them will help them get through their lives *hopefully*

Cheers!

Some of them.

driving barefoot - increased mileage?

*Ini bukan kaki saya

In case anyone hasn't noticed (well a lot of people haven't), I drive barefoot. Since when? Since I can remember (well I only started driving frequently a year ago - and oh time driving test JPJ of course la pakai kasut kan).


There have been a number of times where I got told off for this habit. I tried putting on shoes/ sandals while driving, but it only lasted for a few minutes (sometimes seconds?), as when it is time to brake, I automatically slips the shoes off. Sedar-sedar je dah kaki ayam balik. Ek eh? Fail. (*.*).

So, out of genuine curiosity, I tried researching for valid reasons not to drive barefoot. I know I am not the only one who drives barefoot in this universe. My brother does it as well (or mungkin sebab genetic? :o oh itu kena buat research separate lah pulak). After keletang-keletung dah google semua, I am going to present to you some of the findings.  I cannot publish this in a reliable journal, but this nearly-reliable blog will do. 

Antara kelebihan-kelebihan drive berkaki ayam (dari google) adalah:

1. Better grip and control of pedals


Orang yang pro drive berkasut selalunya akan bagi alasan yang drive berkaki ayam daya tujahan tak kuat, as in takda tambahan force dari kaki nak tekan pedal minyak. Kaki, sepertimana bahagian badan yang lain ada tulang and muscles. Any muscles, if you rarely use them aren't very strong. A barefoot person has much greater control over the car pedals because we can feel them better. Shoes or other footwear cut off that essential tactile sensation (haha over tak?). 

Orang lain tak selesa drive kaki ayam, tapi bagi kami, tak selesa drive berkasut. Analogy nya macam pegang stereng pakai glove, tak selesa kan? (bagi aku la).

2. Is NOT slippery (as opposed to peoples claim)

Kedua, licin? Oh, tak licin langsung. Tak pernah pulak la kaki tergelincir dari pedals. But I am sure ada jenis-jenis kasut yang agak licin, seperti tapak kasut Vincci yang keras dan takda bunga tu ha. Kalau kaki basah memanglah licin, tapi apa bezanya dengan kasut basah? At least your feet dries up quickly. Tapi kalau jenis yang lumur losyen kat tapak kaki tu memanglah licin nyah.

3. Increased mileage (?) hoho

This is news to me too. Tapi tak tau la kesahihannya kan. Quoted from somebody. 

"I can tell you from experience that driving barefoot gives the best feedback from pedals to foot that anyone can achieve. Wearing shoes, I only feel the inside of my shoe. When barefoot, I'm able to use the thousands of nerve endings and dozens of bones, joints and soft tissues in the foot and ankle to add or remove the slightest degree of acceleration or braking that is necessary. With shoes on, much of this sensation and movement is limited or eliminated, and then I must use only larger groups of bones, joints and muscles to make adjustments. Essentially, if you can feel the pedals better and exert only the exact pressure necessary, you will use only the gas you need and save fuel over time.Think of it as kind of very intelligent cruise control."

Intelligent cruise control. Fuyyoh! This particular person has done his own sweet experiment (I doubt the reliability and validity though). You can read it here.

4. Added reflexology


Self-explanatory. Especially untuk pedal bergerigi.

Drawbacks of driving barefoot


1. Hot pedals

Ini kalau parking tempat panas lama, ui mak aih panas gile lah pedals dia. Boleh melecur tapak kaki, rasa cam bertungku pun ada. Pakai kasut selamat sikit.

2. Muddy pedals (if somebody else drove your car beforehand)

I usually keep my pedals clean because of the nature of my driving. Tapi kalau orang lain bawak and kasut berlumpur, memang terasa la pasir-pasirnya. Kalau diorang pijak tahi kucing macam mana oi? (=.=)

3. No fancy shoes


Kalau pakai kasut fancy-fancy or bertali lilit-lilit bagai, payah la pulak asyik nak kena bukak kasut. So I usually end up with slip on shoes ataupun sandal bodo je. Boo!

4. Lenguh if long distance

Well, tipu la kalau tak lenguh kan. Tak tau long term medical effect nya apa. Silap-silap boleh dapat metatarsalgia. Eh? Apa aku merapu ni. 

Aik apesal sama banyak keburukan dan kebaikan ni? Dang. Does not justify anything. Anyway, I'll try to slip on shoes at times, but seriously this habit is really difficult to break. Susah oh! Tapi better la dari tekan break pakai kaki kiri kan? Hehe (you know who you are) :p

goaaal(s)!

Hellow Mellow! (Oh lame nya)

Pergh sekarang tengah musim demam EURO2012 nyah. All of a sudden dinding fesbuk dipenuhi dengan nama negara-negara Eropah. Terasa bahangnya although I myself am not a big fan of football (not at all).

Last night before I went to bed, a lot of things came out of my head. Things that I wanted to do. Tak boleh jadi ni, I thought.. I had to list them down.

Here are the list of the things that I wanted or goals (Yay to the ones that are checked!)

1. Buy a myvi (medallion grey)
2. Have a job that I love (Well I switched jobs quite frequently before this - It took awhile for me to land myself a suitable job)
3. Take swimming class
4. Have a gym membership (Err.. tapi ini hangat-hangat tahi ayam)
5. Take up more reading 
6. Getaway to a tropical island - Booked. I. am. excited. (Its Perhentian dow)
7. Invest in a unit trust
8. Euro trip - Spain maybe?
9. and a trip to Vietnam too?
10. Take dancing class (or go get a wii fit maybe?)
11. Learn how to play guitar (Bought myself a guitar 2 years ago - tapi belajar separuh jalan.. ya ya I know memang suka sangat buat kerja separuh jalan)
12. Own a swimming pool (hamboih)
13. Reside in Putrajaya (Oh area idaman. They have got everything!)
14. Take up photography lesson (kelas mahal sangat, so bought myself a book instead 17 hinggit je) 
15. Own a compact DSLR or a very awesome point and shoot camera.. Lumix LX5 ke contohnya hint hint.. hehe
16. Thinking of owning a cafe gallery later in life (Kalau umur panjang)
17. Buat masters before 30

*Drools over Perhentian. Tak sabar yop!

uneasy mind remedy

I must say that my current job puts me into a quite content state of mind Alhamdulillah. Lagi-lagi right now tengah cuti semester, and this week is the final week for us to key in the marks. I still got a bunch of lab reports to be marked, but that should be settled by Thursday the latest. 

Overall, a very relaxed working period for us. 

No class, 

No lectures, 

No lab, 

No need to rush in for 8 am class,

No tunggang langgang siapkan lecture notes.

*Jumps in the air!

But somehow, today ada something went wrong. And I don't feel good about it. 'This' thing could cost my reputation. And I am stressed, worried, scared. You name it. 

When I am stressed, I need to do something to take it away. Or at least take my mind away from thinking about it. I would like to share some of what I did for the past few years when I am dealing with stress. 

Anything related to cleaning, organizing and rearranging. THESE put my mind at ease.

Bila kita stress, memang jelas otak kita serabut. We cannot think straight. We cannot rationalize. Of course I cannot kemas my brain. But I can kemas what I see. And it calms me. 

Here are some of what I did:

1. Basuh toilet

Its a fun thing to tenyeh2 mangkuk tandas tu. Kalau geram kat orang, tenyehhhh lagi kuat! Huh. The result will be a shinier mangkuk tandas. Cam enjoy je buat 'bisnes' lepas tu. 

2. Color-code my dress/ wardrobe

I did this since sekolah asrama lagi. Ada banyak baju kurung nak kena hang. So bila dah color-code cam jadi lawa gile lah.. sedap mata memandang gitu (Tak boleh blah). Dah kata juara loker terceria, ahaks (somebody please spank me).

Nanti if you guys dah color-code, mesti rasa asik nak bukak almari aje. Although takde nak salin baju pun. Hehe.

3. Ubah kedudukan perabot/ stuff on the working desk.

Bila kemas meja, barulah perasan ada banyak sampah rupanya. Banyak pen yg dah takda ink, kertas conteng2 yang not worth keeping etc. Time ni la baru jumpa pen merah yang hilang 2 bulan lepas. Dang, too late. Dah beli pen baru. Padan muka.

4. Organize/ Archiving files (Hardcopy or softcopy)

When I was in my undergraduate study, I love to organize my lecture notes and tutorials. I labelled them according to topics for easy referencing. But today, since I don't have any.. I decided to give my gmail a better, organized, fresher and more awesome look. I labelled my emails! 

And I color-code the emails too! According to folders! 

Although all these might not address your problems, at least you will end up with a cleaner toilet, awesome-looking wardrobe, tidier desk and emails that you would be eager to login to. Hee!!

of burnt clothes and et cetera

Hari ni almost 6 bulan aku tak tulis blog. Aku pun tak tau la KPI untuk blog aku ni berapa entri nya setahun. Once a year maybe? I think I know why I didn't really want to write on anything... I am just too... reserved. Aku bukan jenis orang yang suka cerita perihal sendiri, cause I think, when I do that, I am going to be very vulnerable... rasa cam exposed gitu. And apesal pula hari ni rasa nak tulis something? Sebab aku rasa facebook is too open to tell the world what you did and stuff. And a blog is where you can write anything you want without your close friends judging you. Lagi-lagi aku yang takda followers ni.. maybe diri sendiri je yang baca, ahaks. Aku rasa ramai orang tulis blog because the need to write something to spill something, so that one day they can look back and reread their entries over and over again. Bukan? Ah sudahlah Farah!

I feel like I have been spending way too many hours in front of the Facebook. Apa aku dapat? Hari-hari baca newsfeed macam itu aje lah sumber news yang ada. What the..... And I've got my dad a facebook account a few monts ago. It looks like they're hooked up too. Hope it brings more good than harm though. In a way aku tengok ayah aku seronok berfacebook, getting in touch with long lost co-workers and friends. Sejak dua menjak ni, aku tengok ke mana-mana aja diorang bawa kamera (mine plak tu!) Balik-balik terus upload facebook.. OMG ini dah lagi dasyat dari anak-anak dia ni. Ahaks.

Anyway, this entry is going to be about burnt clothes. Dibakar oleh siapa?? oleh seterika bertuah. There are a few occasions where I burnt my clothes while ironing them. Seterika rumah aku ni mmg ngok ngek sikit.. Over panasnya. And most clothes that I have burnt are the very fine and delicate fabric, which of course require a lower temperature and the very smart me tak kuasa nak lower it down. Last time was my baju raya. Well, truth be told, aku ni jenis yang selalu beli baju kurung siap, and aku suka beli yang murah-murah kalau boleh nak yang RM50 sepasang. Murah, cantik dan awesome. Itulah motto aku kalau nak shopping. Yes kedekut to some extent. Tapi for raya last year aku ada beli satu baju kurung moden ni which cost me RM150. It was very expensive for me (like boleh dapat 3 pasang kot!! kalau aku beli yg RM50 ones).

Dijadikan cerita.. lepas sekali pakai. Nak iron the second time. I BURNT IT.... like aaaaaaaaaaa... there goes my RM150!!! Haih.. A few weeks after that, aku suruh mak aku carikkan patch lace and cover the burnt part (and another lace to balace it too.. so that seimbang kiri kanan). Em.. the moral is.. I don't know.. maybe itu peringatan yang harta itu memang pinjaman. Baju kurung mahal kau ni hanya pinjaman Farah oi!

Semalam aku iron baju kurung moden aku beli kat jalan TAR 2 years ago which costs around RM60 (Yayyy cheaper). It has a abstract corak and I quite like it. I usually wear it to kenduri kawin or sometimes to class occasionally. And I burnt it tooo!!! Kecewa gak tapi apa nak buat. Its not like I can turn back time. Bila dah terbakar and jadi arwah tu, aku usung ke bilik, dengan hanger aku angkat and usha baju tu for the last time and asked what was wrong with this baju kurung that this thing had to happen. Aku angkat tinggi-tinggi. And I think I got the answer. It was too translucent. As simple as that. Maybe Allah wants me to know that.. "no you shouldn't be wearing that, sweetheart". The baju and the kain are the same corak tapi baju tu was from a chiffon fabric and the kain was a bit opaque. I usually wear it with an inner. But what's the use of an inner if it's too tight? 

Ah.. Sweet kan, Allah? :)

Teaching for Dummies

Fuhhhh Fuhhhh (*hembus habuk dan debu)

Dah dekat setahun anniversary blog ni tiada entri bertulis. Untuk meraikan anniversary ni, maka aku cadang nak tulis something pasal the thing that I am currently doing, which is teaching. Aku mula mengajar beberapa bulan yang lepas, subjek Biology untuk A-level. Bila kawan-kawan dengar je aku kerja ni, keluarlah kata-kata seperti:

“Eh Bitt, macam mana bitt ajar, presentation honours pun suara cam nak nangis je cakap cam kereta api?”

“Apa???? Jadi lecturer?” gelak-gelak jap. “Mesti kena buli dengan students.. muka cam students”

“Teringin nak tengok kau mengajar Bitt… tolonglah record” ß ni request paling banyak dapat.. pergh kalau aku upload kat Youtube tak dapat view 1000 (at least) siap lah korang. Anyway tak main la upload-upload aku bukan Cikgu Shida ok.

Jadi, ni aku nak cerita lah ni macam mana aku survive teaching buat mereka yang masih bertanda-tanya. Well obviously aku tiada training dalam bidang teaching and pedagogy ni, haruslah menggelabah (gila) kan di hari pertama masuk kelas. Beberapa hari sebelum aku start mengajar, kami yang baru masuk ni ada kursus sehari in which dia beritahu la serba-sedikit, what to do and all on the very first day of class.

Among all, aku paling terkesan bila diorang tunjuk short movie clip from "Mona Lisa Smile". Scene Julia Roberts, seorang cikgu baru masuk kelas first dekat Arts College terkemuka Weseley College. Sebelum masuk kelas, ada cikgu lain pesan kat Julia "Be careful, they can smell fear" Sila forward ke minit yang ke 6.00.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w9QYDmV3MU

Bila tengok je video tu, aku cam OMG that is probably whats going to happen to me !!!! Cuak gila okay?

Anyway, takda la teruk mana pun. Berikut adalah tips-tips yang aku amalkan untuk survive teaching.

Never reveal your age.

Kebanyakan lecturer baru masuk ni umur pun lingkungan aku je, lagi muda pun ada. So, the first rule is NEVER REVEAL YOUR AGE to the students. Students yang aku ajar ni actually fresh after SPM so umur diorang adalah 18 tahun. Tak jauh beza pun dalam 7 tahun je. Kadang-kadang aku tengok cermin, rasa muka aku pun macam diorang je haihh.. memang masalah. Students ni bukan calang-calang, semua (ya semmmua sekali) dapat straight A’s SPM hokkay.. Haruslah straight A’s kan, kalau tak jangan harap JPA nak hantar diorang buat Medic. Dah la cemerlang terbilang dapat biasiswa buat medic dan dijangka terbang ke Ireland/ India, korang bayangkan lah ego diorang macam mana kan.. Tetiba masuk kolej, “Ek ehhh, apsal dapat lecturer muda? Boleh ke ajar kami yang bijak pandai lagi intelektual ni??” OK ni dialog rekaan semata-mata.

First time aku masuk kelas, muka sorang-sorang aku tengok cam Einstein dah haa… jelas tergambar dalam otak diorang dok meneka berapakah umur lecturer kat depan diorang ni. Selepas beberapa minit briefing apa jadah semua, maka aku pun tanya “Allright, any questions??” in which aku dah boleh agak apa diorang nak tanya “Miss, how old are you?” zassss. Anda patut jawab “Well, old enough to teach you…” dengan lagak macho tapi ended up aku tak jawab macam tu pun. LOL. Bukan apa, once they know that we are young ataupun baru grad ke, diorang punya level of respect will drop a bit, so keep it a hush hush.

Learn to say “I don’t know” in different ways.

Well, mengajar para cendikiawan ni memang mencabar, lagi-lagi tahap ingin-tahu (curiousity) diorang memang tinggi tahap Skyscraper Demi Lavato wohh. Diorang memang suka tanya benda yang out-of-syllabus. Sometimes their questions are from genuine curiosity but sometimes they wanted to test your knowledge, so kena pandai beza. Biasanya after aku explain something or after habis satu subtopic ke, aku akan tanya “OK, any questions for this topic??” dengan muka selamba muka konon pandai padahal dalam hati jantung berdegup kencang “OMG please lah jangan tanya benda yang aku tak baca lagi or soalan merapu” hahah. But if they do ask some killer questions, here are some of the ways:

Honest – Kalau soalan yang ditanya agak relevan tapi aku tak berapa nak ingat you can just simply be honest by saying “I am not sure about that, I will double check and get back to you tomorrow??” Lepas tu balik office baru menggelabah la baca buku cari jawapan.. But jangan sesekali lupa nak jawab the following day, because each time we are able to answer their questions, their trust will build up.

Divert – Takkan la setiap kali tanya soalan nak jawab “I don’t know, I will get back tomorrow” sampai sepuluh kali back to back. Agak-agak la kan. Mesti diorang cam… errr lecturer ni pergi sekolah ke tak ni semua benda pun tak tau.. apa cerita?? So the next trick is to divert the question. Mula-mula puji dulu “That’s a very good question” dengan senyuman sinis lepas tu tanya the whole class “Anyone wants to give a try/ Anyone have any idea???”. Diorang ni adalah sangat competitive between each other (kiasu) so haruslah menunjukkan kepandaian dengan menjawab soalan rakan-rakan diorang, ye tak? So yeah, aku terselamat di situ.

Kadang-kadang soalan diorang tu bukanlah killer pun, cumanya jawapan kepada soalan itu terlampau complicated and belajar time degree nanti. Contohnya macam blood clotting cascade. Yang diorg perlu tahu adalah:

Simple aje. Tapi kalau tanya macam "How does Vitamin K helps blood clotting?" Ahh demm.. Kadang-kadang susah nak explain in a simpler way. It may involve something like this.. :

Haa amekaww.. berkerut dahi semua. Of course lah tak faham kan. Awal-awal aku layankan aja curiosity mereka. Lama-lama diorang dah get the point that maybe they should learn things slowly (and not skip a few years forward??).

Kadang-kadang kalau dapat soalan tulus macam "Miss, the DNA is in what colour eh? Is it colourful? So each base has got different colours issit?" (=.=) Alahaii....

OK dah panjang sangat ni, lab reports melambai-lambai untuk dimark. Bye.

Teaching is a mutual thing. They learn from you, and you learn from them. My students are my best teachers.