Slippers

In the story of Cinderella, she was in a hurry to leave the palace as she was told to be out by midnight. Running away from the grand staircase, she left her glass slippers and rushed home. She safely arrived home but lost one of her glass slippers. In the end, the prince found the owner and married Cinderella and they lived happily ever after.

In my short walk at the park, I noticed two pairs of slippers left by someone. They must be from one of the park's workers having a break or purposely left because they were already broken. Whatever the reason, the slippers were reminders that it had served its purpose. 

There was one morning I had to be in the city to attend a conference and so I took the Skytrain. While queuing, the doors opened and out came hordes of ladies and men. That very short moment gave way to hundreds of walking shoes. The sound of their pitter patter were like rhythm of drums and sticks.  It was musicality at a surprising level. The momentum ended once the people dispersed. The range of sounds became deafening silence. The shoes offered some musical transition.

When I attended a school celebration one night and we had to be in the library, it is customary for us to leave our shoes before climbing the stairs. When it was time for me to leave, my shoes were missing. I walked barefoot, donning only black socks, searching for the culprit. I walked in circles till I found the man who started to flee. He was apologetic saying he thought my shoes were his. My pair of black shoes weaved a story.

It is not important how many slippers we have worn through our lifetime or the length of their use. The importance of wearing one supersedes the importance of each and every step we make. What matter is the was we reached someone from walking a distance. What makes it more valuable are the footprints we leave when we touch people's lives. What makes life an adventure is not the shoes or slippers we wear, but the steps we make to reach our destiny. 

Tides

The recognitions are deafening as each and every child and parent say their praises and positive comments about how great the teacher is. 

It was many years ago when a lost high school graduate went scouting for a college course to pursue. As there were no guidance from anyone, the young man went from one university to the next taking whatever courses were available for testing. He took science and art courses and in the end, pursued a degree in Philosophy.

There wasn't any job for a Philosophy graduate so this man of 20 ended becoming an assistant teacher in a Chinese school. After a year, his natural ability to connect with young children gave him the opportunity to handle a class, and then more classes for the many years to come.

For all those years of service, his reputation as a great teacher was never doubted. He received accolades from parents and colleagues wherever he went. He was the main topic when a former principal gave a speech about aspiring teachers in an auditorium filled with guests and teachers alike. He was commisioned to start the preschool department of a new school. He was sent abroad to represent his school and the country for a conference. He was being summoned by others to hold seminars, speeches and private tutorials.

But with all these high tides of life comes the low tide. Just recently, when he heard of a blatant misjudgment of his character, he succumbed to despair. He was shocked and speechless. It wasn't a battle he wanted to fight. He was silent for a while, retreating to his abode of gardening and meditation, until he realized that life must go on.

Believing in the mantra commented by a friend, "You are surrounded by m#*!^s.", he picked up the pieces and gathered strength to be able to continue to show his greatness. Right now, though there are smiles exchanged every morning, it is indeed difficult to face another day.

As the school year ends, I wanted to make new pages for a new chapter of my teaching career. It might be a very short book since I decided to make next school year my last year. The high tides of my life give me the opportunity to shine and embrace all that there is in service and loyalty. The low tides of my life show my vulnerabilities and a reminder that I can never please everyone, I can just challenge myself to be better and stronger.

Animal Kaiser

I have no idea why my tutorial students are crazily fascinated with Animal Kaiser cards, I go to one student and he will be tattling about how one of my other students took his card and if I can talk to him about returning it. Then I will get in big conversation convincing someone to return something that he didn't even get from another friend. It becomes a vicious cycle, just because of these cards. I also heard that each card costs around 30 baht which is hefty as they have the tendency to collect them and place them in books as collections. 

One of them asked me to buy them from Taiwan since I have a relative there. Another asked me to accompany him to the mall so that we can play and get some cards from a machine. In all their prodding, all that I can do is draw their fave cards and they all stopped. The problem is... the pleading to draw more never stops. 

Great White Shark

Bengal Tiger

Golden Eagle

Black Panther

Saw Shark

Small Tooth Sawfish

Electric Ray

Indian Gavial

Side Striped Jackal

Coral Snake

There you go, just sharing some of the sketches I made for them. I share them here because it is my digital library so that I can revisit them once again. Thanks for visiting!

My Friendly Boarders

My garden is not just home to my beloved plants but also to some interesting critters and flyers that abounds nature. Aside from the squirrels and cats that visit my garden everyday, the smaller ones had been welcome addition. Let me introduce some of the inhabitants of my lovely garden.

Spider

Ladybug

Caterpillar

Paper Wasps

Butterfly

Bats

The latest boarders of my lowly and humble abode are these two bats when I arrived after the spring break. I looked last weekend and there are four of them now. I always wonder if having them at home is lucky for the homeowner. Anyway, mi casa es su casa. 

Getting to Know You 3

Teacher: Do you know what they call people who digs for dinosaur bones?
Pupil: Yes! Diggers!
Teacher: Good, any special name for it?
Pupil: Bone diggers!

Teacher: What can you buy with money?
Student A: Food!
Student B: Clothes!
Student C: Toys!
Teacher: How about a school? Can I buy a school?
Student D: No! It's too heavy, you cannot carry it!

International Day, a child is dressed in her traditional Spanish costume.
Teacher: What a beautiful dress!
Pupil: Yes, today I am a flamingo! (Flamenco)

Children were using rubber toy spiders while weaving a web.
Pupil A: I cannot balance the spiders on the web, they keep on falling!
They should be able to do that. Spiders shoot webs!
Pupil B: They cannot shoot webs because they are coloured!

Teacher reading a book about dancing.
Teacher: Look at the children, what are they?
Pupil: They are trees.
Teacher: How come they are not moving?
Pupil: Because it's a book?

Pupil One: I'm Invisible Boy! I'm Invisible Boy!
Teacher Jonathan, how come they don't want to play with me?
Teacher: Well, because they cannot see you. :)

Teacher: In the story, the main character burned her prized possession to get blessings from the Great Spirit. What is the thing you are willing to burn as an offering?

Pupil: My brother!

Teacher: Do you know where Matteo's grandmother is from?
Pupils: Australia!
Teacher: Mum is, but grandma is not. She is from a country with the initial sound of I.
Pupil: Igloo!

Landscape and Designs

Initial sketch/ plan

 Most of my close friends know that I am an avid gardener and I can be found digging and planting every Sunday or during holidays. However, not everyone knows that I like sketching my garden whenever I needed to do renovations or to landscape them.

There are many points to consider when re-organizing the space. I look into consideration the area, its purpose, and the variation of plants I needed to make the space appealing. I am not knowledgeable of plants and flowers but I do manage to grow them. I am into heights so I usually make taller ones as background while sprawling flowering plants as foreground.

Just sharing one major project I did some time ago and will then post more of the redesigned spaces for future references.

Additional sketch for planning purposes

From vision to reality

Viola! My Own Garden!

More Cities

Cities in a Bottle

As part of our art exhibition, this small piece of art work was done by mixing a number of paint on canvas to create a bright and vivid background. While we had some discussion as to what to put on top,  the idea of a city in a bottle came since I wanted to have a unique and different art piece to exhibit.

I read from another blog about upcycling so maybe this is another example of what we can do to things that we think are no longer usable. The canvas itself was an old frame used from a previous art piece done some time ago. The bottle is to be thrown and recycled by others but I opted to use it because of its shape. 

The drawings were done by my students and then we overlapped them to create a mini-city inside. Thus, the entire art piece becomes different. It had a lot of meaning to the children who helped me made it and it also promote a better use of things we find around us. 

Daytime at the City

City at Night

These two bowls were painted in acrylic and we used the drawings done during the school year to paint around them. The task was difficult and challenging but worth the patience and determination by all the children. 

Being a Monk

I was fortunate enough to be invited to witness an ordination, thinking of just one person and being surprised to learn that there will be 76 people. The different men who volunteered to be ordained for monk hood ranges from five to 67. Some will stay as a monk for years while some are there for three days minimum up to three months. Being a monk is part of growing up, for the male members of the family, to engage in a short period of service to Buddhism.

Day One. In the afternoon, we went to visit the temple to drop things off. We accompanied our friend who will stay starting that night at the temple. The rain didn't stop the numerous motorbikes and cars that came to send their relatives. It was a very important night for family and friends.

The essentials needed for the ceremony

Day Two. The novices were sent out to the garden for the hair shaving ceremony. Relatives of each novice queued behind to snip some hair from the novice while the novices hold on to a banana cup leaf to gather the hair. Later, the monks washed each of their heads and shaved them including the eyebrows.

Relatives lined up to cut a piece of the novice's hair

Monk washing the hair of a novice

Only a monk can shave the head of the novice

Day Three. After some prayers and meditation, the novices were now given the chance to be a part of the water ceremony, as it was Songkran (Water Festival). They were seated under the shade holding a lotus flower while a line of people ceremoniously pour water on their hands and/or shoulders for blessings. It took two hours for the entire congregation to finish the ceremony. Afterwards, the novices left and dressed themselves in white. 

More prayers and talk from the monks in the evening. It was a night for the family members to gather together. The talk were mostly about relationships between these men and their moms as women cannot make merits so their sons are the one who enter monk hood to make merit for their family. 

The washing of the novices

Dressed in white: presentation to their family

Day Four. From white to orange. The novices were then dressed in orange as it is the colour of monk hood in Thailand. Later, the Great Abbot blessed them after a long day of prayers and meditation.  Then, these men who vowed to be followers of Buddhism for days or for years start a new life. A new beginning, as part of manhood, of growing up and of being obedient sons of their families. 

Wearing of the robe

First breakfast