Hwee-Chong's Random Rants

School's starting again!

2008-08-29T23:11:00.002Z

It's past midnight now and I can't sleep. Actually, I haven't been able to sleep properly for the past few nights now. I can't sleep because I can't stop thinking about how different things would be, if only.... if only I answered that question in more depth; if only I didn't run out of time during that lesson; if only I turned my satnav on on my way to that interview instead of trying to find it using the directions on the website, if only whatever it was that came up in the feedback. But that's if only....

The simple fact is, that next week a new school term starts and I should be setting up my classroom on Monday, ready to meet my brand new tutor group later in the week and start teaching as a qualified teacher. Instead, I'll be looking forward to my fortnightly visits to the jobcentre for my jobseekers allowance and I'll be waiting in the mornings for a telephone, that somewhere, a school might need a supply teacher to come in for the day to cover a teacher who's off sick. Everything I looked forward to about teaching, my own tutor group, my own classroom, it's not going to happen anytime soon. And it hurts. It really, really hurts. Most of my fellow PGCE students will be setting up their classrooms next week and will be meeting their tutor groups. Don't get me wrong, I'm not jealous. I'm genuinely glad for them and wish them the best for their career. But it leaves me with a bitter feeling. I sit here with my QTS certficate next to me, saying that I have met the requirements to teach in schools. My placement mentors have said I have met all the standards required to function as a teacher, the university examination board, after seeing the placement reports and the evidence in my PDP have decided that I am fit to teach, I've got a piece of paper saying that I can add up 1 and 1, read a letter and send an email, I have several certificates from the CRB saying that they don't have any record of me being convicted of any criminal offence. But still, I can't secure a teaching job in a shortage subject.

At interviews, the feedback has always been that I was very close on getting the job and that I would be snapped up in no time. When I rang my university tutor a few weeks ago to tell him about the situation, he was confident that I would have a job at the start of this term. Well, I guess they were wrong. Three days before term starts, I'm still without a job and with only jobs in Scotland being advertised, It looks certain that I will miss the start of the term and have to do with whatever supply teaching comes my way.

End of rant.

It's all in the size of the envelope

2008-05-24T08:57:00.002Z

One of my favourite leisure activities since February has been applying for teaching jobs in September. So far I haven't been very successfull. 18 applications, 1.5 interview and no job. Yesterday I had my first full interview. Last time I was invited, I didn't get through to the actual interview and was sent home after teaching my lesson and lunch.

So yesterday, I experienced the whole thing. Lesson, tour and interview. I think it didn't go to bad. I didn't annoy anyone, I wasn't rude to the headteacher's secretary, I think my responses to the interview questions made some sense and my lesson achieved its lesson objective. At the end of the interview they told me that they now have interviewed all candidates and that they would let me know during the holidays.

This morning I got a letter from the school. Did you know, that you can know the result of an interview without even opening the envelope? The size of the envelope says it all. A small envelope with a single sheet of paper will almost always mean that you've been unsuccessfull while a large A4 size envelope will mean that you have an offer. So, this time I had the small envelope and knew I had been unsuccesfull. So I'm going to start all over again. Up to application number 19! Oh well, at least I've got a free train journey to Kent, once they sent me the cheque.

Car wash

2008-03-29T10:52:00.002Z

A main reason of why people read my blog what probably because it often takes the mick out of me. Because I've been behaving reasonably well, I didn't have anything worth writing, so that's why it's been so quiet.

But today, I have something to write.

Today, I decided my car needed a wash. Being lazy and not having the right stuff to do it myself, I went to the automated carwash at the Shell station. I've never done this before, so I made sure I meticulously followed the instructions. I bought a voucher with a code, made sure my side mirrors were in and aerial retracted. Then I got back into the car, opened my window to enter the code, waited for confirmation, got the confirmation and drove into the car wash and waited. Can you guess which minor but essential part of the preparation process I failed to complete?

Well, I found out when suddenly a rather substantial amount of water and soap went in my car. Yes, I forgot to close the window. Of course I have followed all the other instructions, which include 'turn the engine off and take the key out of the ignition', which was exactly what I had done, so the electric windows didn't work anymore. Of course, as always when I need something desperately, the keys seemed to have magically dematerialised and were nowhere to be found. It was only after the big stream of water and soap was already past the open window and the inside of my car was covered in water and soap that the keys suddenly materialised on the passenger seat and I managed to close the window, just in time before the big rolling brushes would come and attack me.

Exploitation

2007-10-27T12:08:00.000Z

I moved to Patcham yesterday and because I was tired from moving I didn't fancy cooking so went for a takeaway. My landlady recommended the Indian around the corner so I went there to get a chicken badami with pilau rice and peshwari naan. It was lovely but I won't go back again.

Of course you want to know why. While I was waiting for my order to be prepared a guy from Afghanistan was there looking for a job. At first it sounded quite good. They asked him for his passport and whether he was here legally. But then it became dodgy. They said they could offer him a job for 6 days a week, from 11 am - 2 pm and 5 pm until midnight. That's 10 hours a day for 6 days a week. 60 hours a week. The salary they offered was £90 a week! That's £1.50 an hour. I was absolutely disgusted by it. It's not even as if they are in financial trouble that they can't even pay a decent salary (not that it would be an excuse). It's a good running establishment. Well anyways, I'm not going back again, which is a shame, because the food is genuinely good.

I want my money... now!

2007-10-06T08:43:00.000Z

Just when I thought there was nothing left to rant about, something came up. So sit back and enjoy my latest rant. Subject of this rant is the Hong Kong and Sjanghai Banking Coorperation Public limited company. Also known as HSBC bank.

In the past two days HSBC has showcased a level of incompetence, ignorance, and whatever bad things you can think of beyond all imagination.

Let's start with Thursday afternoon. After a day at university, I went to Currys in Brighton to buy an USB drive to put my presentation on I had to give the next day. Some overzealous person at the HSBC fraud prevention department thought that was a bit suspicious and decided to block my card. Of course I didn't knew that at that time but I got a phonecall later while I was trying to take money from the cashpoint. We went through the transactions they had on record and I was able to confirm them all as being genuine transactions. I was told that my card was enabled again that I could use it again as normal. Only... I couldn't. I tried a couple of times but it didn't work. I went to a HSBC branch to get it sorted out. I was put on a phone and after being put on hold for 10 minutes I was told that my card was back on again and that I could use it. Great. Well.. no. Tried to call them again. Again about 15 mins on hold with an annoying tune. Again I was told my card was back on again. And this time, he was right. I did manage to get the 10 pounds I needed. So I went on to buy a few bits and bops and I was a happy bunny again... until the next morning.

The next morning I found myself at Newhaven Town station. I used my card to buy my ticket but got the message that my bank didn't authorise the transaction. Got on the phone again, this time a premium rate number, was again put on hold for 15 minutes and so missed the train and was told a marker was put on my card because of some suspicious transactions yesterday. I know that! But that was supposed to be sorted yesterday. So again we went through the transactions and again I confirmed them as genuine. No problem. The card was activated again and I could buy my ticket. Ehm.. no, I couldn't. By then, my phone credit has gone down from £6 to £2 so I didn't want to call them again. I tried and tried but to no avail. I had no other choice than to go on the train without a ticket, and to hope I wouldn't be checked. That hope was vain. Just before we entered Lewes, and with still one more stop to go, I heard the dreaded words: "Tickets please" "Sorry sir, I don't have a ticket" was my reply. I was offered the opportunity to buy a full fare ticket on the train, but of course I couldn't so my details were taken and the promise of a £20 fine for travelling without a valid ticket.

When I arrived at university I was refused entry to the lecture because I was late. I tried the cashpoint again, but again failed to get money. This meant that I didn't have money to buy food, so I wouldn't have anything to eat until I got home where I only had bread and butter. At lunchtime I called them again and again the same story. A marker was put on my card and has now been removed and I can use my card again. Ehmm..no. And I was hungry. A slice of toast doesn't last very long. Luckily for me, one of my friends offered to lend me some money which I accepted, because I had no choice. So at least I could buy food. When I arrived home I was positively starving, not having anything to eat or drink for 9 hours and only a slice of buttered toast for the last 22 hours. I got on the phone with them again but this time they did what they do best. They blame the costumer. It wasn't their fault. I had damaged my card and that was why I couldn't use it. Well, I had my card in my hand and it looks absolutely spotless. And besides, a damaged card can't be used at all. Mine did everything. I could check my balance with it, print off statements. The only thing I couldn't do was taking money out or make payments. But anyways, even though it was my fault, to show their goodwill, they would send me a new card. And I would have it in 5 working days. I was reminded that I could have gone to a branch to get money using my cashbook. But of course, how silly am I. Why didn't I think of that earlier and spare myself and HSBC so much trouble. Ehm.. o yeah, I remember again. The closest branch is 5 miles away and without a car which a few days earlier lost a fight with a van and without money to get on the bus, it would be quite a challenge to get there. Especially when it is only open 10 - 2, when I'm either on my placement (I wonder how to get there without money for the bus) or at university (another couple of £20 fines on the train await me next week, o no, because I need the bus to get to the station in the first place)

So as you can imagine, I'm not very pleased with HSBC at the moment. I haven't been able to get to my money for the third day in a row now. I couldn't buy food until I borrowed some money from my friend, which will probably last me for until Monday, and then I have to wait until my new card arrives at the branch, and of course I have no idea how to get there without money for the bus. I had to go on the train without a ticket and was subsequently fined £20, had to make £15 worth of phonecalls to a premium rate number mainly listening to annoying music whilst being put on hold.

In the past, HSBC have charged the living daylights out of me. They charge for everty single thing. 10p overdrawn £20 charge, bounced cheque £20, bounced direct debit or standing order £20. I'm planning to get compensation of them. When I get the notice for the fine and once I can get to my money in a reasonable way (walking 5 miles to a branch with a chequebook is not reasonable) I will write a letter to them that I expect a full apology for the inconvenience, full repayment for the phone charges and the fine, and a compensation for each day I couldn't get to my money. Of course, they won't pay me a penny because it's my fault, but at least I showed them I'm serious.

End of rant.

Car accident

2007-10-02T06:04:00.000Z

I have finally something to write on my blog again. Unfortunately, it's not very good news. I had an accident yesterday with my car, and to be fair, being hit by another car at a considerable speed is not the most pleasant experience I had in my life. The good news is that none of the people involved suffered serious injuries, but our vehicles are gone.

I have to admit that it was my fault. I waited at the T-junction for about 5 mins for a gap so I could turn right, when a driver from the left made a gesture with his hand which I understood as go ahead. Silly me, forgot to check if there was traffic coming from the right, mainly because I only checked a few seconds before and it was clear then. The problem is that the road to the right is a descending hill and you don't see anyone coming until they are almost at the junction. So I pulled out, heard a claxon, a bang, banged my head against the door, had my glasses thrown off, and wondered whether I was dead or still alive. After a couple of seconds I decided I was alive but still puzzled as to why my car was pointing in a different direction than I wanted to go. Then reality struck. I was involved in an RTA and even worse, I was to blame. So I stepped out of my car to see if the other people and car involved were fine. The driver was fine, his van wasn't. Mine wasn't either. The driver seemed to be more concerned about his car than about whether I was okay, which I found quite shocking as he was an ambulance driver. Okay, he did ask me whether I was okay... after about 10 minutes and having first told me off about the damage I caused to his van and how I messed up his schedule. I thought that as an ambulance driver, your first concern should be whether the people involved in an accident are fine, even when you're off duty and even when it's your own vehicle that is damaged.

So then it was time to write down witness details and exchange our own details and insurance and wait for the police to come. Police came and saw that everything has been handled properly and left us to it. I called the RAC to arrange recovery, which will probably cost me a lot of money as I only have roadside assistance which doesn't cover recovery.

Fully in line with me being prone to bad luck, this happened less than a month after I decided I didn't need a fully comp insurance and downgraded to TFT. Which means, the other driver will get a brand spanking new car paid by my insurance while I'm left with a pile of metal. And that only because I wanted to save about £10 a month.

Well, my landlord said he knows someone who has a Nissan Micra for sale for £350 so I might have a look at that.

A student once again.

2007-09-14T20:50:00.000Z

I just finished the first week of my PGCE. It's been pretty busy with lectures and seminars and other stuff to do. I have another university based week left before I start my placement in the school... that is if they will let me.

One of the conditions for the course was that I needed to get a CRB check. This I did but because I also lived in the Netherlands, they also wanted a police check in the Netherlands from me. So before I left Lingfield for the summer, I filled in the form, send it to the university to fill in their part and asked them to send it back to me so I could submit the form. As such a statement of good conduct is quite essential for a course like this, I thought they would treat it as a matter of urgency and ensure that they would deal with it as soon as they can. Well, I was wrong. Instead of filling in a straightforward form, the registry forwarded the form to the department to fill in. They subsequently forwarded the form to my course tutor to fill in. He filled the form in, after coming back from holidays and returned it to the registry. Now the registry hasn't got a clue where the form is. I really hope they will let me start my placement on the basis of my British CRB check, which covers the last 4 years. Basically, it's only the one year before I started in Bangor that they want a Dutch check for.

The organisation of the whole thing has been horrendous this week. Rooms have been double booked, at registration after having stood in a queue for about 45 mins, we were told that we couldn't register because we needed a library card to do so. Of course, when asking for our library cards, they weren't ready yet. Our course handbooks are still waiting to be copied (apparently the repro department is currently busy with the 2004 handbooks so that can take a while) so yeah, I don't really know what's going to happen with me.

The only thing I know is that if they still require me to get my Dutch check, it would delay my placement significantly (it will take a couple of months to apply for a check from overseas) and that would mean I won't get the placement hours I need to meet the QTS standards.

But apart from that, I'm actually having quite a good time being a student again. I've got a nice group. Our tutor is somewhat of a legend here. Even the trip on the shuttle bus between Varley, where my car is parked and the campus is enjoyable with the company of a PGCE maths student I randomly met on one of my first trips on the shuttle bus.

Well, that's it again.

Putting your feet up.

2007-09-04T14:48:00.000Z

Everybody does it sometimes. You sit on a train, the seat opposite you is empty so you think you could put your feet up there and relax. In June, Kathleen Jennings did exactly that, with potentially very serious consequences.

Kathleen Jennings is a 19 year old girl who studies maths in Manchester and does volunteering work with children with special needs and is a Scout leader. In short, a model citizen. Today she is facing a criminal trial.

Putting your feet on a train seat is probably not allowed with any train company. When you are caught by a train officer, it is usually resolved with a apology and that's it. No harm done. Kathleen however had the misfortune that she encountered a over zealous train officer who took her details and later she received a letter summoning her to appear before the Magistrates Court to face charges of 'wilfully interfering with the comfort or convenience of other passengers'. She faces a fine and prosecution costs of up to £150 plus lawyer fees. In addition she also faces a criminal record. I think that's pretty harsh for something like this.

So, what do I think of this. First of all, everybody knows putting your feet on a train seat is not allowed and you could be fined for that. I'm all for prosecuting people who repeatedly and insistingly put their feet on seats. Go for it, give them a fine and if necessary, take them to court when they keep on doing it. However, when she was reminded by the train officer, she immediately apologised and took her feet off the seat. Why on earth was that not enough? Why should she have to go to court for this? I mean, did the train officer had a bad day? Did he have to meet a quotum to bring a certain number of train passengers to court for offences others wouldn't even give a one off fine for? I don't know. I think it's ridiculous to prosecute Kathleen for this.

The incident happened on a train run by Merseyrail. I think I can say I know Merseyrail quite well. As a student in Bangor who regularly used Liverpool John Lennon Airport to fly home, I had the misfortune of having to travel on a Merseyrail train between Chester and Liverpool many times. Merseyrail trains are the worst of all the trains I've ever travelled on. Well, not quite. The worst are actually a Dutch type of train which give you about 1 ft of legspace and give you the marvellous view of a large piece of solid wood about a foot from your face which is the seat in front of you. But anyways, Merseyrail trains are old, run down, uncomfortable, dirty, slow and stop at all stations. Between Chester and Liverpool it stops at roughly 20 places, most of them villages with a population of about 100 including cattle and pets. I have every sympathy for someone who just for a minute puts their leg on a seat. I mean, the seats are already minging so it's not as if it will get any dirtier. Why doesn't Merseyrail sort their trains out, make them a bit more comfortable, give them a lick of paint and clean them. That would be much more useful than prosecuting people.

I hope the Magistrates will have more sense than the over zealous train officer and throw the charges against Kathleen out of the window.

Update: The Magistrates court dismissed the charges and found that a fixed penalty fine would be more appropriate.

Bishop Hannington Church

2007-09-03T19:41:00.000Z

Yesterday I started my church hunting mission in Brighton. The coming weeks I hope to find a church to settle in for the coming year. First on the list Bishop Hannington Memorial Church, recommended by Stephen Bowen, the vicar from St John's Felbridge where I went while I was working and living in Lingfield.

Bishop Hannington is an Anglican church in Hove. I went to the 10 am service, which this week was a communion service. Bishop Hannington is a clearly evangelical church. The preaching of the Bible is central. The clergy doesn't wear any robes. The presiding priest did the eucharistic prayer standing next to the table instead of behind and didn't do any movements with his hands when consecrating the bread and wine. It was all very relaxed and informal.

The service started with a song and the commissioning of the new students worker. Hey, I've seen that bloke before, I thought! Well, that was right. It was Martin Povey, who was UCCF staff worker in the Manchester area and has been speaking at a Bangor CU meeting in the past. Of course, he didn't recognise me, but that is hardly surprising as I was only a humble insignificant member at Bangor CU, whose main claim to public fame was an uncareful comment about one of the strings on my guitar whilst leading worship at one of the main meetings. By the way, two months ago, I learned that Ben Carswell, who was the speaker that evening and son of Roger Carswell, named that moment as his highlight as UCCF staff worker for South Wales.

Anyways, back to Bishop Hannington. The sermon was on prayer. When the going gets tough, keep praying, because we are God-enabled, was the title. The speaker, in good Christian fashion, divided the sermon in three sections. I don't know the exact titles of the points anymore but it the followed format was: In...... we are God enabled, so don't be ...... but keep praying. The first one was, In ....... we are God enabled, so don't be proud but keep praying. The second was in opposition we are God enabled, so don't be fearful but keep praying and the last point was in building the church, don't be precious, which was to mean single minded in our approach. The first point was of course about giving the glory to God instead of ourselves, the second about trusting in God in times of opposition and the last point about listening to God and be open to his guidance when building his church and kingdom.

So, what are the chances for me to become a regular at Bishop Hannington then? Well, I like Bishop Hannington. It's an evangelical church and an Anglican church. And that's basically what I'm looking for, as I still hope to enter the Anglican ministry at some point in my life. The people seemed to be friendly and there are loads of young people around. I think I could feel at home there. The problem however is that I live in Peacehaven, which is about 12 miles driving from Hove. I have always been in favour of joining a local church and 12 miles is not really local. I'm sure there are good evangelical churches in Peacehaven or at least closer to me than BH. But living so close to Brighton, it is tempting to travel a bit further to find a church in Brighton where there are people from my age, instead of attending a church in Peacehaven with the risk of being the youngest by about 30 years. Well, I'll have to see.

I'm going to try Christ Church Brighton next week and Holland Road Baptist Church the week after. Maybe I'll also try Christ the King, but with a congregation of 1000, I think that might be a bit too big for my liking. Probably I'll also try one or two churches in Peacehaven or nearby villages.

First days in Peacehaven

2007-09-01T17:41:00.000Z

The family I'm lodging with are out tonight so I have the house and the computer for myself. Don't worry, I do have permission to use the computer until we have find out how to set up a wireless network so I can go on the internet on my own laptop.

Anyways, as you know from my last post, I now live in Peacehaven. Peacehaven is a town about 7 miles from Brighton. So, what do I think of it then... Well, to be honest, there isn't much to do here. I wonder if that's why they have two funeral directors here, because everybody gets bored to death. Oh well. Most of the time I've been entertaining myself in my room watching TV and playing with the dog. The local supermarket here is the Co-op, which is good, because I'm a member of the Co-operative group so I can get points when I do my shopping. Wahoo. As far as I can see, there are 2 main shopping areas in Peacehaven. The Meridian Shopping Centre and a stretch of shops on the A259. The Meridian Shopping Centre by the way isn't as impressive as it sounds. Even the big sign is more impressive than the shopping centre itsef. Basically, it has a Co-op, a betting shop, a post office and a dry cleaner. I think that's about it.

To get more exciting stuff you have to go either to Brighton, where you pay 70p for 15 mins parking or to Newhaven, where I went yesterday but went back straight away because I felt it wasn't safe for me to stay any longer because of the trouble I caused driving there. I do have the bad habit that everytime I go to a new place I commit so many traffic offences that if I were caught for them, I would easily get the points I need to have my licence taken from me. Among my favourites are driving through red lights (usually because the lights for straight ahead are green but I failed to notice there are separate lights for turning left or right), going in a one way street the wrong way, driving 60 because I failed to realise I just entered a 30 zone, and just holding traffic up because I haven't got a clue where I am. In Newhaven yesterday, I went through a red traffic light, that was located just after a left turn. This traffic light, I learned later, is normally always on green except when someone wants to cross that road, which based on the location of the crossing, is about once or twice a month. Later at another crossing, where there were also traffic lights, I did stop before I turned right. Now cars behind me manically beeped their claxons while I was frantically looking for the traffic lights that controlled my lane. I couldn't find them and there was a good reason for that. There weren't any. But I only realised that after about 5 minutes and pulled up just before someone from one of the cars behind me had the chance to smash my windscreen with a cricket bat (okay, the last was made up).

Okay, before you start worrying as I expect you are by now, I'm actually quite a competent driver. It's only when I don't know my way around in a new place that I am so preoccupied with finding the right way, that I sometimes miss a one way sign or look at the wrong traffic lights. And it really doesn't help when your directions say, i.e. leave the M5 at junction 4 and turn left, turn right on the roundabout and you have arrived at your destination, when it fails to tell you that before you get to the roundabout where you have to turn right, you first get 5 other roundabouts where you have to go straight on. Or when the directions say, turn left at the traffic lights on to St Mary's Street, when it's a 6 way crossing of which 2 could reasonably be defined as left and the sign with the street name is about 100 meters into the road and on the wrong side for you to see. For this reason, and this reason only I have bought a satnav a couple of months ago. I will write a review about it soon.

Well, that's it. Catch ya later.

A new era.

2007-08-30T09:20:00.000Z

After a year of working and paying tax, I'm only a week and a half away from going back to being a student again. I moved to Peacehaven two days ago. There's not much a tell really, as I am trying to find my way around here. Things have been quite positive so far. I've got a big room. It's my largest room since June 2003. I've got my own TV with good signal. In a moment of enthusiasm I went to Brighton and bought a £20 freeview box. Unfortunately, I failed to check whether this area was covered by freeview. As a result, I have now a beautiful freeview box next to my TV doing nothing. I'll keep in anyways. I'm bound to be living in a freeview covered area at some point in my life, right? Anyways, the freeview website had good news for me. The whole of the UK will be switching to digital between 2008 and 2012. Unfortunately, my area is of course scheduled for 2012.

Enrolled!

2007-08-25T06:42:00.000Z

Wahoo, I've enrolled on my PGCE course at the University of Brighton this week. All done over the internet from my home. What a difference with my undergraduate days in Bangor. Registration in Bangor means standing in a queue for an hour, going past several tables, filling in forms, checking forms, handing forms, picking up library cards, pay your fees, etc.

Though registering online is quite convenient, I actually quite liked the way they did it in Bangor. It gives you the feeling you're not on your own but you're in it together. Registering online doesn't give you the chance to chat to people whilst in the queue or sign a paper form, which I think is much cooler than clicking 'yes' with your mouse.

Anyways, it's all systems go now. I'm going back to Lingfield tomorrow and moving to Peacehaven on Tuesday. Exciting!

I hate DIY, I really do

2007-08-15T21:48:00.000Z

As the title already suggests, I hate DIY. Frankly, I think that whoever invented the idea of DIY should be shot. Well, okay, being shot is perhaps a bit harsh, but anyways. You probably want to know why I feel such adversity towards it. Well, because I'm blessed with a total inability to work with nails, screws, hammers, etc. Without fail, nails will end up in me instead in the wood, whilst a hammer will end up on my thumb instead of a nail. I couldn't assemble a simple wooden box to save my life.

My mom is not particularly keen on DIY. That's a good thing. The bad thing is that she does like new furniture at times. And today she and my brother, who also likes new furniture fancied buying a new TV unit. And I mean not just a simple one you can put together within an hour, but one with a 27 page instruction manual, over 200 screws, nails, bolts and other fiddly things, over 20 pieces of wood, and other scary things like wheels and things that enable to open and close doors. The thought of it alone scares the living daylights out of me. Why on earth couldn't they just buy a simple one with only a couple of wood pieces and no unnecessary rubbish they will never use?

Of course, I was expected to help out with assembling the whole thing. Okay, I don't mind helping out putting something together, as long as it's useful. Like when you just moved and have some new furniture. That's okay. But we already have a very fine TV unit which has served us faithfully for 12 years now. There was absolutely no need whatsoever for a new one. The only reason my mom and brother could give was that they just fancied a new one. Honestly!

Well, at 9.00 pm, whilst reading a book I was called for the big project. I hated every second of it. DIY is just not my thing. I'd rather pay extra to have it done for me than that I would do it myself. Or even better, I just buy simple but elegant furniture that doesn't come with a 27 page manual. Anyways, after 2.5 hours and still more than half of still lying aimlessly on the floor I thought: Sod it! I'm tired, I gave up the best part of my evening on the stupid thing that you bought. Do It Yourself! I'm off to bed!

Looking back

2007-08-07T19:50:00.000Z

Now I'm back in The Netherlands and my time as a support worker in Surrey has effectively come to an end it's time to look back at my time in Lingfield.

As most of you will know, I worked as a support worker in a residential school for young people with epilepsy in the south of England. So, what did I make of it then? I'll start with my favourite word for these things: "well".

Well, it's been a year of highs and lows for me. Most of the time I've been enjoying my job. Some times I loved it and couldn't wait to get stuck into it. Unfortunately, there were also times that I absolutely hated it. But that's not what I want to write about. Instead I want to about what I've learnt about myself, and the challenges I've faced in doing this job and because of it.

In terms of my Christian faith, this was easily the most challenging and difficult year of my life. I have always been surrounded by Christians who would support me. Since secondary school age I've been an active member of the Church, involved in youth work, worship, cell groups etc. As a student I was a member of several Christian student groups like Ichthus in The Netherlands and Christian Union in the UK, so a supporting Christian community was always readily available to me. Now I found myself in a place where Christianity is just a joke. Where "God" is always followed by "damn". Where Jesus Christ is not Lord, but a substitute word for "f*ck*ng hell". Christian support was totally non-existent. The best thing that can be said in this respect is that I managed to get Sunday mornings off to go to Church but that was it. I didn't have time to hang around after the service because I had to work in the afternoon. I went to a home group on Wednesday evening but only managed to attend a couple of times because of different rotas during last week of term causing me to miss at least 1 in every 3 meetings. The other times I was often home or the meeting had been cancelled because not enough people were coming. And when I did manage to come I'd often had worked virtually every waking hour from Sunday 2 pm to Wednesday 4 pm, so I was so shattered that I didn't really got much out of it. The shift pattern of the job has been disastrous for keeping up my spiritual life and relationship with God. I think apart from home groups, I've opened my Bible about 10 times. 7 times in my induction week, when I had training on normal times and probably about 3 times after that to show others that the Bible doesn't say Christians aren't allowed to go to the pub or have fun. I just about managed to pray half-heartedly once a day. I felt empty and came very close to losing my faith. Is it my own weakness? Yes, it's definitely a factor but when you have to get up at 6 am to get ready to start working at 7 am, and have to work until 10 pm, with only a 2.5 hour break between 1.30 and 4 pm, it really is hard to find the energy and motivation to spend time reading the Bible and to pray.

I hope changing to a career that offers more normal working hours I can find back my faith again and find the support I need to help me grow. I'm going to Brighton now where I'm sure I'll find a good church. I hope to get involved quickly and really be part of the church family there.

Teleportation

2007-08-04T20:54:00.001Z

Wahoo! I can do teleportation! No it's not a joke, I really can. I just found out this morning on the train.

This morning I got on the train from Lingfield to London. I entered the 3rd coach of 4 coaches. That's also what the announcement said. "This is coach 3 of 4".

Then after we left Oxted, the announcement was suddenly "This is coach 4 of 4". How amazing is that! Without moving an inch, I found myself in a different coach. Okay, it's not as impressive as the Japanese lad in Heroes who teleported from Japan to New York, but still. And you know what? The other passengers in the coach, seemed to have teleported with me.

And if you think that's all, you're gonna be in for another surprise. When approaching East Croydon, the announcement said: "This is coach 3 of 4". Again, without moving an inch I was back in the coach where I started, and so was the rest of the people in the coach.

Or could it be that the person doing the announcements got mixed up?

MOT drama

2007-08-03T13:52:00.001Z

Yesterday morning I took my car to the garage for its MOT. As it's my first time, I didn't know the drill. I thought I'd take the car there, they would test it while I was waiting and enjoying a cup of tea and reading some magazines and an hour or so later I would be taking my car back home and that would be it until next year.

Well, I was in for a surprise. The first part of the whole enterprise went as planned. I took my car to the garage and reported to the reception. After that, nothing went as planned. Instead of testing the car straight away, I was asked to leave my keys with them and they would ring me once the test was completed. That was quite an unpleasant surprise for me. Not because I was unwilling to leave my car there, but because I now found myself 5 miles from where I live, and 2 miles from East Grinstead station where trains could take me back, without any cash to pay for a bus to either EG or Lingfield, and no known cashpoint anywhere near where I could get money to get on the bus to either destination. So I had no choice than to walk 2 miles to EG and bought a sandwich at Sainsbury's for breakfast (I didn't have breakfast because I was planning to be back within 2 hours max and have breakfast then) and got on the train back to Lingfield. The rest of the day I spent waiting for the phone call that would tell me that my car had gloriously passed the MOT. The phone call came at 3.21 pm. But it wasn't to tell me it had passed gloriously. It didn't even just pass. Actually, it didn't pass at all. It had failed because of a split outer CV gaiter and an advisory note for the inner CV gaiter. It would cost me £214 to have it fixed. Happy days!

The last weeks

2007-07-08T14:06:00.000Z

I haven't written anything for ages now so I guess it's time to put something one my once legendary but now not so legendary blog. I guess many of you have been reading this blog, desperate to know what's going on in my life and for weeks you have been deprived of virtually any information about my life. But then, if you were on facebook and wrote on my wall, then you would of course be up-to-date.

But okay, not everybody likes facebook, and I respect that, so I guess I better get on with it and tell you about my amazing life.

3 weeks ago I went to visit Naomi, a friend I know from Bangor (why am I telling you that I know her from Bangor? Most people who read this blog know her too.. oh well) in Hastings. It was great to see her again. And I didn't even get lost on my way there! The first day we watched a DVD and tried to chase 2 donkeys into their stall. When it started raining, the score was donkeys 3 - Naomi and Hwee-Chong 0. I also spent a lot of time in their chapel pretending I could play the piano, which obviously I can't. The next day we went to Hastings to play crazy golf. Crazy golf is cool. You should try it. I won! Then we saw a van for blood donations, so we randomly decided to give blood. So we went to give blood. Well.... Naomi gave blood. I was turned down because I had just recovered from food poisoning. O yeah, I forgot to tell you. I had food poisoning just when I got back from Singapore. Nothing from Singapore by the way, it was the fish and chips I had from the chippy in the village. The fish had gone off. It tasted a bit strange but stupidly, I decided it was fine. After a sleepless night where I spent about 80% of the night in the toilet, it was very clear to me that it wasn't fine.

Apart from that I spent most of my time working and going to Brighton on my days off to sort things out for September. After the summer I'll be moving to Brighton where I will do my PGCE. I wanted to go to Bangor, but they were full. So last week I had my interview. I think it went okay. I've got the place. The only thing I have to do now is to pass a GCSE equivalence test in maths and fill in a form to get money for it. I've sorted out a room in Peacehaven, a town just outside Brighton where I'll be moving in on 28 August. If you want the address, just give me an email or leave a comment and I'll give it to you.

Well, I think that's it for now. O yeah, John Stott was in our church today again. And this time I got the chance to have a chat with him. Not very long, as I was constantly interrupted by other people who also wanted to talk to him but it was cool to have the chance to have a chat with him. If you want to hear him speaking, your last chance will be this month at the Keswick convention in.... well... Keswick.

This really is it for now. Bye.

Guess who was at church this morning.

2007-06-17T11:55:00.000Z

This morning I went to church. Not something very special, I've been doing that every Sunday for the last 15 years or more. But this morning there were new people in our church. Also not very special as there are regularly new people in our church. But guess who was the new person in our congregation.... sitting quietly in his pew, without any of the arrogance or air of celebrityness you might expect from someone from his calibre, but rather behaving as a ordinary congregant without any special status was John Stott!

Okay, Christians among you will probably know who John Stott is but non-Christians will probably think: "Yeah, so what?, who is John Stott?". Well, in the evangelical Christian world, John Stott is an absolute legend. He is worldwide known as one of the most respected Christian leaders and author of many books that are read all over the world. Finding John Stott in your church is for me as an evangelical Christian the same as for let's say a football player playing for a local team to go to a normal Saturday afternoon match and find David Beckham, who decided to play for your team after he retired from professional football, sitting in the changing room with you.

To be honest, I didn't even notice him until the end of the service. He didn't preach, he didn't do the prayers or one of the readings. He was just a ordinary member of the congregation. His name wasn't even mentioned throughout the service. I'm wondering what the vicar must have thought when he saw Stott in the congregation. An ordinary village vicar preaching and giving communion one of the most famous Christian leaders in the world.

Well, John Stott now lives in a retirement community for Anglican clergy near where I live so I hope he'll become a regular in our church. How cool would that be!

Churches in Singapore

2007-06-13T21:01:00.000Z

It's been almost 3 weeks ago since I came back from Singapore so it's about time I would write something. Well, after my last post from Singapore, not much happened really. I continued doing what I was already doing. Shopping and eating, so there's not much to write about that except that I can recommend char siew rice and roti prata.

Instead I'd like to write about the two churches I visited. FCBC and St Paul's. Let's start with FCBC.

FCBC, Faith Community Baptist Church is one of the 3 largest churches in Singapore. They meet in a massive exhibition hall that can accommodate thousands of people. I think there were between 5000 and 10000 people at the service I went to. The service had the feel of a pop concert. Big videoscreens, about 50 people on the stage including musicians, singers, dancers, worshipleaders, flag wavers, a complete light show etc. If you sit at the back, like I did, you could follow the whole show on one of the many videoscreens throughout the hall. FCBC is a baptist church with strong charismatic influences, so a lot of emphasis on speaking in tongues, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, hands in the air and happy clappy worship. The service started with a time of worship. Technically, the worship was immaculate. Every note was orchestrated to perfection, every voice in the choir was in tune and in time, all the dance movements where carefully choreographed and performed to a scary level of perfection. I couldn't fault them on anything, except that the pastors, of whom there were many on the stage, couldn't sing in tune. Unfortunately, I didn't come to see a perfectly orchestrated concert. The whole thing made me feel confused as to what I was doing there. Was I supposed to worship God, or was I supposed to be awed by the vastness of the whole show? For instance, the big videoscreens regularly showed close ups of the guitar player playing his riffs. I have to admit that he is a pretty decent guitar player and it looked quite impressive, but isn't he supposed to support us in worshipping the living God, instead of showcasing his guitar skills? The worshipleaders were very keen on everybody raising their hands and speaking in tongues on their command. A charismatic myself, I have no problems with raising my hands during worship. I do it regularly and sometimes I even speak in tongues. But when a worshipleader is telling us that he wants us all to collectively lift up our hands or speak in tongues, it makes me cringe. I don't know why, but I have always hated those follow the leader type things. So when the worshipleader shouted that he wanted us all to lift up our hands, mine stayed firmly down. Not because I didn't want to lift my hands up but just because I wanted to worship God the way I do and do things as the Spirit leads me, and not because some over-enthusiastic worshipleader jumping up and down on the stage tells me so. I guess being part of a large church as FCBC is attractive to some people. It gives a feel of belonging to a group, a feel of security, safety in numbers, that sort of stuff. Well, anyways, the service made me feel very small and intimidated and I didn't feel like I was there to worship God, but rather that I was there to be awed by a huge church.

The next Sunday I went to St Paul's in Kovan, an Anglican church which is part of the Diocese of Singapore. Completely different story. Here there were no huge videoscreens but one simple beamer and a screen to project the songs on. No 50-strong crew on the stage but a simple band consisting of drums, guitar and piano. No hyperactive worshipleader who was doing his best to make himself the star of the show, but a down-to-earth worshipleader who made God the star of the show. No congregation of 10,000 but only about 100, which for Singaporean standards is not much more than a home group. But anyways, I think you can already guess that I felt much more positive about this service than about the FCBC service. At the FCBC I was completely ignored by the people around me. Okay, halfway through the service the people who were there for the first time were asked to stand so the whole congregation could give us a big FCBC welcome but at that stage I was already so disillioned with the whole scene that I couldn't be bothered anymore. At St Paul's before the start of the service, a friendly lad introduced himself to me and after the service I was invited to join a couple of young people from the church for lunch, even though I was only a visitor, and they showed a genuine interest in me. So at least I went to one church which made me feel welcome.

Just a final note on St Paul's being an Anglican church. As a parish in the Diocese of Singapore and the Church of the Province of South East Asia, it belongs to the worldwide Anglican Communion of which the Church of England is the mother church and the Archbishop of Canterbury is generally regarded as its leader. But if you are going to an Anglican church in Singapore and you would expect a dull empty church with a congregation whose age on average is well above retirement age, then you're going to be in for a shock. Unlike the Church of England, where attendance figures are declining, the Anglican church in Singapore, and in the whole region for that matter, is a vibrant, healthy, growing church. Where the Church of England, and other Anglican churches in the Western world, fail to attract young people, the church in Asia does attract young people, and they are committed to the church. Why is that? I believe it's because unlike in the Western Anglican churches, the church in Asia takes the Bible seriously. People won't have the wishy washiness of some of the church leaders in Europe and America. They won't have it that preachers preach from the Bible but in the same sentence denounce the authority of it by saying something completely contrary to the Bible. And more importantly, how can God bless a church that is going its own way, instead of living according to God's Word? How can you be a godly church, when you deny to truths of the Gospel? Because that's what is increasingly happening in the Western churches, including the Church of England. In Asia, the Bible is regarding as authoritative and infallible, the true Word of God. Okay, some might think, yes but in the Western world we have science to explain things in a rational way and in the west we are more advanced in that than in Asia. Well, dream on! Singapore is a highly developed country with excellent education. Many of the people who are Christians in Singapore and believe those very truths in the Bible are highly educated scientists themselves so to say that science disproves the Bible is just another excuse to live our own way. I think it will be a good advice for the Anglican churches in the west to learn from our fellow Anglicans in Africa and Asia. There the church is flourishing because it keeps on trusting and relying on God, while the Western church has increasingly pushed God out of the church.

Last post from Singapore

2007-06-03T15:30:00.000Z

Well, it's almost over. This is my last post from Singapore. I just been through security and am now enjoying the free internet facilities at Changi Airport (Heathrow and Gatwick, maybe an idea?). My plane leaves in about 3 hours so I guess I'll make myself useful and spent some more money.

I'll be back tomorrow.

Hello from Singapore

2007-05-31T08:03:00.001Z

As most of you will know, I'm in Singapore at the moment. I've been here for a couple of days now but I haven't had the chance to go on the internet until now, so I'd like to take this opportunity to write something about my adventures here. Well, Singapore is hot, I mean really really hot. You know, in Britain my glasses will often condense when I go inside a building an a cold day. Here's it's exactly the opposite and my glasses condense when I go outside.

So, what have I done so far then? Well, on Sunday I went to church with my uncle. The church is called FCBC and it's a pretty big church. Well, actually it's huge. There must be thousands, if not tens of thousands of people in the congregation. I've never seen so many people in a church service before in my life, unless you count the EO jongerendag as a church, which I don't. I'll tell you more about what I thought of the service when I return to England.

I have spent most of my time with my cousin, who is here as an exchange student. It was great to see here and to spend time with her. We've been to Little India, Chinatown, Sentosa Island, and several other famous spots like the Merlion. Life in Singapore seems to be centered around two things. Shopping and eating. Singaporeans eat four meals a day, and food is available 24 hours a day. Fancy a chicken rice or roti prata at 2.30 am? No problem. Shopping is big in Singapore. You think Oxford Street is a big shopping street? Although Oxford Street in London is longer, compared to Orchard Road in outlook and presentation, Oxford Street is more like Crawley High Street. The numerous shopping centres are huge.

I have now 4 days left in Singapore before I go back to the UK. I'm taking a day off today but I don't know what I'll do tomorrow. I'll probably write about it when I get back, and of course I'll be posting photos.

That's it for now. So long suckers!

Excited!

2007-05-25T07:50:00.000Z

12 hours from now, I will be boarding the Airbus 330-200 from Emirates at Gatwick that will bring me to Dubai, where a Boeing 777-300 from Emirates will be waiting to fly me to Singapore. O yes, I'll be going to Singapore tonight. It's my first time on an intercontinental flight on my own. Both my younger brothers have already flown intercontinentally on their own before. I've been on loads of local flights on my own though.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do in Singapore though. Of course catching up with family over there. I'm also planning to follow the advice of Francis Noordanus, the chaplain of Trinity Church Eindhoven, to visit some of the Anglican churches there and have a look at how alive the Anglican church is there, contrary to the average parish in the Church of England, where you might find a congregation consisting of an elderly couple of 80 years old who form the PCC and their 55 year old son who happens to be the vicar and parttime organ player. I also hope to visit Singapore Zoo and possibly nip over to Malaysia for a day. Well, actually I do have an idea what I want to do I guess. But I've also set myself a challenge. And this is going to be a big one. A huge one even. My challenge for the 10 days I will be in Singapore to try and eat durian. People who have smelled the odour of this fruit will know what I'm talking about. The smell of a ripe durian fruit is absolutely disgusting. It's impossible to describe the smell. It's not only disgusting, it's also incredibly penetrating. You can wrap it up in as many layers you like, put it in an air tight safe, and put that air tight safe in another air tight safe and you will still smell it. It's so foul and penetrating that it is banned from all public buildings and public transport. And yes, I am going to eat it. I don't know how, they might have to force me down and shove it in my mouth, they might have to get a court order to have it done, and it will require a lot of determination and will power from my side, but if I succeed and have eaten this fruit, I will probably be able to eat anything that comes my way, including tuna, carrots and rhubarb. I'll let you know how it went when I get back.

I don't know how the availability of internet in Singapore will be for me, so I don't know to what extend I will be able to write on my blog when I'm there, so be patient, I will tell you everything I've done (well, almost everything).

It took me 25 minutes to write this post. Twelve hours from now, I will probably be listening to the safety instructions on the airplane.

See ya later.

John Sweeney is brilliant!

2007-05-17T18:59:00.000Z

Today I finally had the chance to watch the BBC Panorama documentary Scientology and Me. In this documentary John Sweeney investigated the claims about the Scientology church being a sinister cult, using all kinds of nasty methods to silence everyone who says something bad about them.

I think John Sweeney is a genius. His rant at the end was sheer brilliance. The only thing that let him down was that he toned his voice down halfway through. Scientology wants people to believe Sweeney lost it big time, edited a video completely out of context, turned up the volume, and posted it on youtube.

His act was brilliant and justified. Scientology claims that the documentary was biased and that only opposers of Scientology were interviewed. That may be true, but there was no need to interview Scientologists. Why not? Because Scientology members turned up at the most surprising places, particularly in the person of none other than Tom Cruise, who apparently uses the alias Tommy Davis when he's on Scientology business. First he waited for Sweeney and his team in their hotel lobby and says that Sweeney is obnoxious because he came all the way to USA to interview Scientology opposers, while he took time to come over to the UK to spend 2 days with him. Of course, spying on people, tracking down there hotel and waiting for them to confront them is certainly not obnoxious in the view of Scientology. Later Tommy Davis (it's Scientology business so let's refer to Tom Cruise by his Scientology name) went mental when Sweeney referred to Scientology as a cult, which it obviously is, and said he could not be held responsible for his actions if he uses the term cult one more time in reference to Scientology. Later Davis crashed in the middle of an interview with a convicted sex offender, only to expound on the man's criminal past. After Sweeney interviewed some of Scientology's celebrity members Davis accused Sweeney of treating 'these dignified women' with disrespect. Dignified women? These are hollywood celebrities, many of whom have done nude scenes or scenes of sexual nature, for every cinema visitor or DVD watcher to see. One can hardly speak of dignified women in this context. The team was forced to withdraw to the toilet for an 'editorial conference' but even there Davis and his cronies didn't leave them alone, constantly asking whether everything was okay. Finally Sweeney was subjected to a 90 minutes horror show about psychiatry, which according to Scientology is a nazi pseudo science, used in concentration camps. And who was on the scene again? O yes! Tom Cruise, o sorry, Tommy Davis. He was accusing Sweeney for giving the sex offender an easy interview. Remember, Davis was only there for the second half of the interview and knew nothing about the first half. It was then, when Sweeney put up his brilliant piece of acting. Of course, he meant it, his feelings were genuine, but he was fully in control. Something Scientology doesn't want us to believe.

Scientology was not happy about the documentary. It was biased and it gave an unbalanced view of Scientology. Okay, I'm a reasonable person who is willing to hear the story from both sides. So after I finished watching the BBC documentary, I proceeded with watching the counterdocumentary of Scientology. I looked it up and I was ready to see their wholly unbiased, impartial and fair documentary that would tell me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth about the way BBC investigated Scientology and how the documentary was made. I was bitterly disappointed. If you watch it on face value, it is actually quite convincing that BBC wasn't completely fair in dealing with Scientology and that they used inappropriate methods while making the documentary, but a closer look shows that Scientology's documentary was heavily edited. Most of the talking was done by a voice-over and a couple of experts appeared during the course of the documentary. First, the voice-over repeatedly claimed that Scientology repeatedly invited the BBC team to visit Scientology sites but that they refused and gave weak excuses. However, no footage was shown to support this, and that while Scientology seems to have cameras everywhere they went when dealing with the BBC team. The only time there was footage was when a Scientology member accused Sweeney for not turning up at their appointment and instead talked to 'heretics'. Sweeney's reply was not shown. They claimed the BBC team violated the BBC code of conduct. They let several experts elaborate on this code of conduct. None of them referred to John Sweeney or the documentary. Only a few referred to the BBC and those who referred to the BBC could be linked to Scientology in one way or another. There version of Sweeney's rant was heavily edited and taken completely out of context and put into a completely different context. At the end of the documentary the voice over mentioned a couple of EU court rulings that protected the rights of all religions and that the BBC as a public state broadcaster had failed to comply to these rulings. Maybe Scientology doesn't know this, but the BBC is a British broadcaster based in the UK, and in the UK, Scientology is not recognised as a religion and therefore the rulings they appeal to don't apply to Scientology. Of course, much of the documentary was filmed in the US where Scientology is a religion, but there the EU court doesn't have jurisdiction.

The BBC documentary showed Scientology as a cult. A dangerous and deceiving cult. Scientology's own couterdocumentary, whilst trying to discredit the BBC, mainly discredited itself by showing a heavily edited version of events.

Time for another post

2007-05-16T17:38:00.000Z

It's almost two weeks ago I blogged here, so it's about time I write something. Last time I wrote about my views on the disappearance of Madelaine McCann in Portugal. I admit I might have been too critical and didn't read the full article properly, so I offer my apologies for this. I appreciate this is horrible for the parents of Madelaine and really hope she will be back soon.

Only a week and a half to go and it's half term again and I'll be on my way for 10 days in Singapore. I'm looking forward to it. It's been 10 years ago now and it will be the first time I get to see some of my relatives. And after that I'm off to the Netherlands to attend 3 weddings in 4 days. That's as many weddings in 4 days as I've been to in the past 5 years.

I haven't been doing much exciting recently. I've been to Bangor but didn't see many people there. It was good to be there and see the few people I did see. We went to the cinema to watch Spiderman 3 on the premiere night and took Peter for a 'driving lesson'. O yeah, I also beat him at Carcasonne. It's a while ago I won a game of Carcasonne, so I was very pleased.

At the moment I'm mainly waiting for a copy of my school marks to come through so I can complete my application to start PGCE in September. Back to Bangor again, hopefully. Or any of the 3 other universities I've applied for.

That's it for now. I'll definitely write something before I'm off to Singapore, even if it's only to say I'm off.

See ya.

Responsible parenting

2007-05-04T09:07:00.000Z

Article

After reading this article, I have one question that's nagging me.

How on earth can you leave your 3-year old daughter alone whilst having dinner on holiday in a foreign country and checking on her only once every half an hour?

I mean...

- Abducting a child takes much less than half an hour.

- A child of that age is capable of doing more than you think. Tbey can open doors, walk up and down stars, use a lift, run. i.e. a 3 year old child is fully capable of doing everybody he or she needs to do to get out of the appartment and take a stroll.

- But a child of that age, hardly understands the concept of danger and hardly understands that not everybody who's nice to them also has the best intentions.

- In a holiday resort, nobody is going to suspect that the person walking hand in hand with the child might not be her parent.

Of course I feel sorry for the parents, but I believe that they should have been more responsible. Leaving your child alone and only checking on them every half an hour will simply not do. A lot can happen during half an hour.

I hope everything will be fine and the girl will be reunited with her parents soon.

Another week gone by

2007-04-25T18:06:00.000Z

It's Wednesday again, so time for my weekly 2 days off. I got paid today and had the surprise of being paid £5 more than last month. This might have something to do with the fact that we are now in a new tax year and that the tax rates have changed.

I've booked my May/June halfterm holiday this week. I'll be going to Singapore from 25 May - 4 June. I have family living there who I haven't seen for years. It's been 10 years ago now since I last been there. I seem to go to Singapore on a ten yearly basis. I've in 1987, 1997 and now again 2007.

After I come back from Singapore I will be going almost straight to the Netherlands for the remainder of half term to attend 2 weddings (and hopefully no funerals).

I haven't been up to much except working and spending a lot of time on facebook. I never thought I would get addicted to profile sites, but I must admit that facebook is taking up a lot of my time, especially since it brings me back in touch with people I haven't seen for ages.

Okay, I'm off again. See you next time.

Slamming doors.

2007-04-20T10:49:00.000Z

I found a note in my room this morning. This is what it said:

"Please do not slam the door dome are sleeping and it's a bit rude thanks hope you understand else we have to report the situation
Thanks"

Well, what I can say is that I have never slammed the door here. I don't know why they pick on me and I feel a bit offended that they accuse of slamming doors. I think I'm quite a considerate person and being accused of rude behaviour feels like a smack in my face.

You know what I think is rude? Write a note like this to me and don't even bother to put your name down. Not just because I'm not able to tell the person who wrote it that he or she's got the wrong person but also if the note was justified, I'd know who to apologise to.

I hope it doesn't mean the next time someone slams a door it will be me who is gonna be blamed and being kicked out of the hostel.

Gutted.

2007-04-18T21:03:00.000Z

My plans of doing a masters in Manchester are off now. I got a letter today saying that they will not support my application for AHRC funding which means I won't get the money I need to do an MA.

So now it's full steam ahead with job applications. I just saw that the deadline for the Swindon job was last Saturday. Oops. Well, now it's the Derbyshire job to go for and I'll keep my eyes open for other jobs as well.

Not much happened today. Went back to work after 2 weeks of holidays. I'm going to bed soon. Early start tomorrow morning.

Bye.

5 items or less

2007-04-17T21:19:00.000Z

Sometimes I'm astonished by the level of literacy and numeracy of some people in supermarkets. Most supermarkets have tills for people with only a few items and usually there's a sign telling everybody that this till is only for customers with e.g. 5 items or less. I think the message of such a sign is very easy: this till is only for customers who have 1,2,3,4 or 5 items to pay for. But amazingly, some people don't get the message. Yesterday at Sainsbury's I was stuck behind a lady who tried the fast checkout to pay for her whole month's shopping. And of course, the staff is too friendly to refuse her. Well, if I was checkout staff, I know what I would do. I would checkout the first 5 itemshttp://www2.blogger.com/posts.g?blogID=7374660924836474493, let her pay for it and then let her put the rest of the stuff back on the cart and rejoin the queue at the back. Of course that will annoy the queue behind her but at least it makes the customer feel embarresed and wouldn't dare doing it again.

Well, on a different note, I'm back in Lingfield again. I spent two weeks at home for Easter. I didn't do much. Of course I went to the Easter day service at my church. I went for a walk with some people from church on Monday. That was good. I had apple pie in a pub afterwards. Dutch apple pies are the best! On Saturday I went to visit two friends of mine. It was good to catch up. It's a bit strange to know the next time I'll see them is when they are getting married (to each other).

So, what am I up to now then.. I'm applying for jobs for after the summer when my contract ends and in case I don't get the funding for my MA. I'm applying for two jobs at the moment. One is in Swindon as a schools worker with Swindon Youth for Christ and the other one is a job as schools coordinator for a group of churches in Derbyshire. Both jobs sound very exciting and I hope to be invited for an interview.

Well, that's all for now. I hope to write on a more regular basis again now. (How many times have I made this promise now and not kept it?)

See ya later.

The Lord is risen! Halleluja!

2007-04-08T05:46:00.000Z

Happy Easter everybody.Have a good day.

I'm public again

2007-04-05T19:06:00.000Z

I've decided to make this blog public again. Things have calmed down now and I didn't have much motivation writing for just 3 people so there you go. And the RSS feed should work again now so everybody sign up for it and keep up to date with my adventures.

Well, I'm back home again. For the first time I drove back. Eurotunnel is cool! It's a bit weird driving a car on to a train. I never expected to find it difficult to drive here but yesterday I completely freaked out. As the road system at Eurotunnel in Calais is designed to lead you into the right lanes it's almost impossible to end up driving on the left hand side, driving on the right was no hassle and it soon began to feel natural again. Unfortunately, I was still in UK mode on roundabouts. I got on to a big roundabout and then something started to feel horribly wrong. Wasn't I supposed to go the other way round? Then I looked around me and saw everybody else going the same direction.

There's not much else to tell now. Hope to have more to say next time.

2007-03-17T18:38:00.000Z

Because I finished at 1 today I thought it would be a good idea to go out for the afternoon. I decided to go to Brighton. The last time I went it took me ages but now I know where to go, I had more time to spend outside my car than in the car. What a mistake! Going to Brighton on a Saturday when there's a football match on is not a good idea! Getting to Brighton was easy but once there the nightmare started. Driving with an average speed of 2 mph it took me about 45 minutes to get to the centre and find a carpark with spaces left. Once arrived at a carpark with a long queue behind me, there was a sign with the parking fees. 70p for 15 mins (no, this is not a typo. Seventy pence for fifteen minutes). It took me about 15 minutes to find the parking place that just came free so that was the first 70p. Because my car was now parked at some remote corner of the carpark, it took me another 15 minutes to find my way out of the carpark. Yep, that's another 70p. I went to the centre and had a walk around and then decided that I didn't want to pay a fortune on parking fees so I went back to get my car and go back home. Eventually the whole thing had costed me £2.10. In East Grinstead that would easily give me a whole afternoon of care free parking.

O yeah, I've got my new licence today. From now on I can start collecting points. So when do you reckon I'll get to the 12 points?

Well, I hope people are still reading my blog. This week was bad. Nobody has read my blog since 11 March. It's a shame that the RSS feed doesn't seem to work anymore and people are not notified anymore.

Another post

2007-03-09T21:32:00.000Z

Well, I have to confess that my motivation to write on my blog has gone down since I had to put a password on it. It's not much fun writing when there are only 3 people reading it. I'm thinking about stopping this blog and write my blogs on facebook instead. In that way, there are more people who can read it, but it's still restricted.

But anyways, I'm doing reasonably okay. I'm now in my days off and will have to go back to work tomorrow morning. Will I finally get my long anticipated cooked breakfast tomorrow? I hope so. It will be a busy day. First I'm going to drive Hanna to Gatwick, then work from 8 am - 2 pm, then to Guildford to visit Becky. It's gonna be great.

Alive and kicking

2007-03-05T22:35:00.000Z

Hi all. Yes, I'm still alive and well. Sorry I haven't posted on here for a while but I thought with only one reader it would be a bit pointless. But I have now the amazing number of 3 people who have a password for this blog! That's about as many as there were before I put a password on it.

But anyways, I think you want to know how things are going, right? Well, things have calmed down a bit here, but today I found out that people are still talking about it and confronted about it again today. You know, people who keep on saying that it wasn't very sensible of me slagging off the company on the internet. Well, I think it's a bit unfair as I have admitted that it was wrong to write these things and I have done what was asked to do. This also makes me think of looking for a new job again. So I have been looking at some vacancies again. And I've not been lucky.

I saw one vacancy, which fitted me perfectly (on paper). They were looking for an assistant information officer. They were looking for someone with an interest in theology, current affairs and the Christian world. Well, I have a degree in theology, so yeah, I think I have an interest in theology. I definitely have an interest in current affairs and in the Christian world. So, I was already downloading the application form until I saw the deadline. 2 March 2007. I was 3 days late! Other jobs advertised didn't even nearly match this one or were way beyond my qualifications. So for the time being, I won't be going anywhere.

Since my last post on my old blog I've been to Swansea to visit Mandy. I had a really good time there and it was great to see Mandy and Emma again and also to meet some of Mandy's housemates. Ice cream in the Mumbles is great. We went to see a film in the cinema (sweets are very expensive!) and we did some crazy things, like scaring the living daylights out of RAC and AA people, and making video reports on age discrimination on merry-go-rounds. So, thanks Mandy, it was great. You're hereby invited to come to lovely Lingfield.

The week after it was half term, so time for Bangor. I went by car this time. Long journey. 6 hours it took me to get there. It was nice to be back again. I wasn't very productive there. I completed my application for AHRC funding for my MA starting in September and read 3 books. O yeah, I slept a lot as well during the day.

Other things I've done are going to Brighton. Very confusing. When you drive into Brighton you see signs to Town Centre, but also City Centre. Are they the same? And to make it even more confusing, you also have signs to Brighton Centre, which happened to be some kind of a cultural centre with a theatre in it. Eventually I found something that could be the centre of Brighton but I'm sure about it.

I've seen Music and Lyrics in Crawley last week and went to London on Friday to see a musical: Wicked. I enjoyed it, even though the first half was very long and dragged on a bit.

So, with this you are all up-to-date again. If you want to know when I have posted something, subscribe to the RSS or Atom feed.

Catch ya later!

I'm back again.

2007-02-18T23:14:00.000Z

Hi, I'm back again. Sorry I haven't posted anything for almost 2 weeks. I've had a good think-over about how to carry on with my blog, since the events of 2 weeks ago, that forced me to delete the old one.

I've decided to put my blog behind lock and key, ie to password protect it. In this way, only people who have the password can read it. Since this blog has always been intended for friends it doesn't make much difference to me.

I'm not sure who's reading my blog, but if you would like to continue reading it, please send an email to hcfong@gmail.com. The decision whether to give you the password is of course mine. If I say no, then it's no and the decision is not negotiable.

As I appreciate that not all of you will be reading this immediately, I am planning to wait until 25 February 2007 before I put a password on this blog.

Welcome to my new blog!

2007-02-06T15:44:00.000Z

This is the restart of my new blog. It's a continuation of my previous blog with the same new which I had to remove from the internet. I hope you enjoy reading this.

Posts will appear soon.