Another thing before i forget
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Vesak Day
I woke up this morning in pain as Im plagued with tonsilitis... Intrestingly tonsilitis was something i had problems with in singapore, then I had no infection during my time in Vietnam, and now that im in Thailand..its back again...and the conclusion is... STRESS.... Im under a mountainload of stress... Oh and Ive quit my job...

So anyways as I was marking books this morning (see...see....so much work and the parents expect this of teachers....what the hell...im only doing this to keep you off my tail...with so much marking i can't supplment your child's education with more interactive activities...and thats your own fault) sigh...anyways

as i was marking my books, someone appreared on the msn and next to the person's nick was this 'Vesak day, the day the lord buddah attained enlightenment over the law of all things'

I was a buddhist and this caused to me to wonder... It is wonderful that the lord buddah had attained enlightment over the law of all things.. in other words he understood the law over life and death and the things to come.... and interestingly...there is a law to everything.....

My question is....who wrote the law...who decided what right or wrong...who decided where everything began and where everything would end... Dont get me wrong im not buddhist bashing...but i think its an important question to address....

This is an important revelation to me that the lord buddah understood that there was a law to everything... however its more important to know who wrote the law...

So with that, the lord buddah recgonises that he's not soverign over all... that he is under the law of everything and his objectve was to free himself from the law... In order for you to free oneself from the jursidiction of the law, one has to be outside the jurisdiction of the law.

If one is born under the law, one can only be free from the law if the law allows one to be free from the law... and once and if one is free from the law, one would need to be in the jurisdiction of a power outside the law...

and if the law is all encompassing then the only thing outside the law is the person the law allowed to be free from the law....and if a person is free from the law and everything else is under the law, wouldn't that mean that the person would have to create a new jurisdiction outside the law...

and what creation powers does a man have?

Furthermore if the law is all encompassing, then anything outside the law is nothing...and what is the purpose of that? To be free from suffering and pain? Or to be free from emotions of happiness and love? Nothingness is nothing however we were put under the law for something, why are we running away from our purpose and desiring to disappear into nothing?

Anyways, Vesak day is the day the lord buddah attained enlightnement of the law of all things...which only means that he understands the law...but one can only be free from the law if the law allows it... and who has to power to do this? No one except the one who conceived and enforces the law... and who would that be? The lord buddah only understood the law, he did not create the law...so how now brown cow? ;)

My Mornings

Ive been in Bangkok for a month now and Ive over stayed for 4 days already...the visa issue has been trying... if i get a student visa, i wont be able to work at teh school as both schedules clash, without a bachelor degree, i wont be eligible for a work permit...well the problems are endless...

Teaching in a school only means that I have the opportunity to wake up early and because my apartment looks out relatively undisturbed, here are some of the sky scenes I see... God is Great!

Korrecting the Koreans

Ive had Korean parents petition against me because they refuse to have a chinese teach their children english... They were concerned about my accent...that I would have a strong Singlish accent and that their children will pick it up....I mean please lah! What sing gar pore reeun assent har? where got? These people hor...must be dreaming hor!

I have no qualms about speaking singlish, its somethign that im proud of! it's singaporean english...somthing thats unique to me...its a form of english that has evolved over a century and has successfully incoporated 3 languages into english... its Asian English...words like Tau Hu, Roti Prata, Alamak, Loti (bread), buay tahan...and so on...words that we're so comfortable and familiar with...

Anyways... I choose not to speak it for professional reasons, and these parents hear from other parents, who heard from other parents, who met with people who ate a cafe, who worked for people, who had business partners, who had daughters with girlfriends, who had maids, whom during their gossip sessions, heard from the security guard, who met the 7-11 counter staff who heard me use broken english to buy a packet of cigerettes and a bottle of black cat whiskey...

I mean what the hell! baseless, brainless comments...and now a petition...

the parents are actually confused with what's happening, one parent says something, but the children give a totally opposite comment...the kids love coming to school but the parents hate me...Im trying my best to give my all to the kids, but the children are echoing their parent's words and their speech... I had a boy come up to me and questioned why i had not marked his friend's book and threw the book on my table and told me to mark it... I try very hard not to blame the child for i know that that's his mother speaking...not him...

but God's been faithful with providing comfort... same as when he provided the fairy bread in vietnam during my low period... ive received a card from my student thanking me for teaching her and she put loads of crosses in the card with the message 'God loves you'...and she gave me a crucifix as well...

and today as i was praying (in extreme and total fustration) for God to provide the Korean parents with more love and that he reveals himself to them... there was a knock on the door, and the korean children of the parents whom I had been praying for came in with a plate of korean snacks and chocolates for me...God is great... he knows when his children are hurting and how best to comfort them

Sickening Home Sickness
I MISS VIETNAM!!! I’ve been in Bangkok for 2 weeks now and I deeply yearn to be home in Hanoi. Bangkok’s a nice place but I seem to have fewer hours in my day compared to Hanoi, and of course I miss all of you dearly!!!

I also miss the traffic, I miss the sweet smelling exhaust, the way the ladies would ask if im married, I miss the plain bland food, I miss the flowers and greenery, I miss the familiar pot-holed roads, I miss being able to understand (some) Vietnamese. I MISS MY COFFEE!!! It was tragic that I had no space to pack any coffee into my bags as I had already been carrying 30kgs worth of luggage. Oh my coffee! How thou hast forsaken me!

It’s interesting that I’ve never felt homesick before…till now that is… I guess Vietnam’s my home... I didn’t feel that way about Singapore… so I guess I ll have to redefine what home means

Kumustaka (im sorry if ive spelt it wrongly)
I have 5 Filipino colleagues and they’re a pretty cool bunch, Lois is a Christian and I joined her at her bible study last Friday night and guess what…BS ended at 12 midnight. So what would one do at a Filipino bible study?

1. Bible Study
2. Sharing
3. EAT
4. PLAY GAMES

Oh my goodness! GAMES!!! I was totally stunned but I got out of it pretty quickly (hey, I lived in Vietnam for a year…one learns to give up sanity easily) So I joined in, I would usually find it hard to laugh at the things the Filipinos laugh at but I found it easier to laugh at them then with them…(sorry kuyas and ates) They were similar to our BS in Hanoi except that they were louder…much, much louder…

And we had TONS of food, we ate before the bible study, during the bible study and after the bible study. One Ate made this unbelievable upside-down pineapple cake…it was the yummiest piece of cake that Ive had. The only problem was it oozed sugar and butter when I bit it…But its soooo good (I ll find out how to bake it ok)

As for church, Im attending the Evangelical Church of Bangkok and strangely enough I have been there before…perhaps 3 years ago and it was Kien Ann who brought me there. The service and worship was wonderful, I can see myself growing further with this church. As for further preparation… I will follow as He deems fit…so for now I have no plans…only a heart ready to obey…

Studio Apartment Siah!
Ive moved in 3 nights ago into my ‘studio apartment’ (quite a nice name for a one room flat hor…) Well it’s actually bigger then my room back in Singapore and I like it very much…very basic but I’ll do it up as the months progress… I’ve housed myself on the 5th floor so that I get to see out and that’s a really nice thing to have…
Oh and my priority is to setup the kitchen…and there’s not much space to do so….Thai food is nice but I would just die from the liberal amount of sugar they put into their food. Oh and I need a fridge too…one of those tiny fridges that would fit under the desk…

My building manager is a tigeress! She’s ultra fierce but she get’s things done, and compared to all the other apartments I’ve looked at, her’s was the cleanest and was maintained well. I guess its also a plus point that she likes me too :)

Go Web!
David, Steph and I watched Spiderman 3 and here’s something interesting. In one scene, peter parker was talking to his landlord and we noticed that the landlord lived in room 502. David then said ‘hey Toby, wouldn’t that make spiderman’s landlord you neighbour?” I then replied “who knows spiderman and I may even have the same apartment number.” As the movie progressed David and I looked for every opportunity to discover peter parker’s apartment number…and I am proud to say, spiderman and I do share the same apartment number…room number 501….muahahahaha

Speaking of which, here’s my address (but its not completely accurate let me check again)

Sukhumvit 71, Phra Kanong Soi 37, Unitec Apartments, Room 501,
Klong Toey, Watana,
Bangkok, Thailand

And my handphone number is +66846643348


Ko Samed
David and Steph are here in Thailand now on a week’s long holiday. We are now on our last day in Ko Samed. It’s a really good trip, Ko Samed isn’t as touristy as most other islands in Thailand however it’s developed enough for you to be comfortable. Food and drinks are everywhere and you could come here with nothing and will still be able to buy all the things you would need for a holiday here…and the prices are high but not extremely high. It’s more like a beach resort for Thais.

There is however an entrance fee of 400bht/$16sgd/$11usd for foreigners, whilst the thais only pay 40bht/$1.6sgd/$1.1usd, so when the ticket guy approached us and asked me how many tickets I needed. I replied ‘3 please’ in Thai and we only paid 120bht muahahahahahah!, a thai friend whom we met on the ferry was utterly surprised at how clear my diction was and I replied to him in thai ‘I speak thai well don’t I?

And on another note, I yelled ‘Em Oi’ at a waitress once, people turned and looked in my direction…realizing that I had forgotten that I was no longer in Vietnam and to salvage the embarrassing moment…I turned and looked in the direction which everyone was looking at…hoping to find another scapegoat for this embarrassing scene. So much for quick thinking…