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Travelling to Miri June 19, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Education, My Views, School Activities.
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Very recently one of our officers called me up to tell me that he and I would be going to Miri on the 24th June to attend a three-day briefings conducted by our ministry. Initially I wanted to reject but then after second thought I agreed to go with him. This is a second round of the similar briefings which was held in Kuching two months ago. For the upcoming briefings, our route from our place would be fully provided by the office – transport and accommodation.
Like the previous briefings, we are supposed to conduct in-house training for heads of schools or their senior assistants. And the upcoming one would be similar. The briefings would be about the ministry’s vision to re-activate the school-based in-house training in schools rather than calling teachers to come down to a centralized trainings, which is a waste of time and resources to most schools in the interior. The implementation of the said training is based on the idea “let managers (school heads) manage”, which is, to me, a brilliant idea.

Facebook June 12, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Computer, Culture, Education, Ethnic, Family, Forum, Love, My Views, Relationship, Writing.
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Sometimes ago I was invited by some friends of mine to sign up with Facebook (FB). Iniatially I turned down their invitation, but I did not give them any reasons. I simply kept the reasons to myself – workload, not ready to ‘expose’ myself, etc. But not until recently when a particular friend ‘re-invited’ me to sign up. I could not turn down the invitation for the second time. Then, after our Gawai festival, I signed up with FB. After the sign up, I added some familiar friends, and to my surprise, most of them have been with FB for a long time. It was me who was ‘left out’. As time flies, I added more friends and most of my request to add the people were accepted. It is fun to see their pictures and read comments. Like in our portal, engkabang.net, I do not post much comments on other’s FB, but simply click on the “like” link to show how I feel towards what they had put up. Am I introvert? Perhaps. In real life, too, I do not talk a lot. I prefer sitting down and ‘read’ – reading prints and people. What do I mean by ‘reading’ people? It’s simply an act of looking at another person and studying or observing his/her moves, with the intention to understand what type of person he/she is! Mind you, most of my observations are fruitful! But I do not want to be a psychologist, since I am not one by profession.
Back to FB: In FB I am now among my friends and even relatives. One interesting thing I found in FB, was, my daughter, Fionula Connie Duie, have been with FB 2 years ahead of me! Besides her, two of my cousins, Marilyn and her sister, Olivia, have accepted me in FB. I guess who is next I’d meet in FB.

Lester Called June 9, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Celebration, Education, Family, Festival, Forum, Gawai, My Views, Relationship, Sarawak, Writing.
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Lester, our engkabang.net portal member, called me at 4.00 p.m. today, telling me that he and his family made a short stop in Betong. It was his first time coming to Betong, as he and his family was on their way back from Kuching to Roban. As Lester is from Miri, and his wife is from Roban, I learned that there’s no reason for him to come to Betong. But it was me who had suggested to him that he should drop by whenever he has the time. I was glad he and his family had made it today for stopping in the town. Unfortunately I did not have the chance to meet them as my wife had used our car to meet her sister at a sewing workshop. But Lester did not mind I could not meet him, as he said that they were just looking around the town. We greeted each other Happy Gawai over the phone before he hang up.

Check out my Slide Show! May 24, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Celebration, Education, Family, Language, Love, My Views, Relationship.
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My Trevor is into Lower Six May 14, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Education, Family, Language, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities.
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Since the MOE announced that former SPM leavers are to enter Lower Six, my wife and I talked a lot about it to our third child – Trevor Jullian. Iniatially Trevor did not like the idea of joining form six as he has a lot of reasons:

1. Some of his buddies are not with him;

2. He is still attending the same school, meeting the same teachers;

3. He feels that the two years is ‘waste of time’ (studying and sitting for the 2010 STPM exams).

He did not tell us his reasons but those were our assumptions. Before the ministry’s announcement, he had received a lot of mails from various colleges offering him courses. I did not like the idea as those colleges are IPTSes – private ones, and are ‘very dear’ to attend. Trevor understands my standings, but, yes, he is not dissappointed.

I explained to him that his form six would only take him a year and a half, and it’s almost equivalent to pre-U (please, readers, correct me if I’m wrong). Should he go to Kolej Komuniti (whilst, there is one in town) by end of July 2009, he would have to undergo a two year-course. Each semester would cost him RM200, and at the end of the course he would be awarded a certificate. Of course both certs have their own pros and cons.

Most of his friends went to the school on Monday 11th May, 2009, and when they came home, and met Trevor in the evening, they persuaded him to ‘take the challenge’ – go for 2010 STPM! After two days of making the decision, eventually he smiled at me, telling me that he would take the 2010 STPM exams. Phew! My boy! Another ’sixth-former’ from the family after my Fionula “Dara”, who is now an expecting mum!

April? April 5, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Culture, Education, Family, Language, My Views.
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In and around, there’s so many happenings… there are 3 by-elections in the country – Bukit Selambau and Bukit Gantang in the peninsular, and Batang Ai, here, in Lubok Antu. The polling day for all three constituencies would take place on the 7th April. Not much to comment here on the three by-elections.

This April too, my friends and I are expecting a payout from KEMAS, after which we have been hired to conduct a week long course at a nearby school last month. The course was mainly on guiding KEMAS pre-school teachers on the teaching of maths and science in English. It was tiring, but everyone enjoyed the program. Imagine – every day the course started at 8.00 a.m., and ended at 5.00 p.m. At night, it resumed at 8.00 p.m. and ended at 10.00 p.m!

It’s February February 2, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Church, Education, My Views, School Activities, Writing.
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It’s February now. Could hardly believe that January passed by so quickly. Too occupied, may be. Yes, my kids and I have been very busy with our own business. Last month I attended our PTA AGM, and declined to be elected as the secretary. No big deal, but just wanted to focus more on my involvement in spiritual activities. I have been the PTA’s secretary since 2005. Before that, I was an assistant secretary. In 2007, I was ‘called’ to join the Parochial Church Council (PCC) as a member.  And last year, I was the PCC’s assistant secretary. Why secretarial posts? I could have answered that long ago. All my minutes wasn’t that well written, as I am not that good in writing.

February, too, reminds me of my 26 years of being a husband, and also a dad! Valentine’s Day, of course. Twenty-six years? Wow! How time flies. And, yes! I will be 46 next month – on the 20th March. But I always tell myself – don’t mind the age, but look at what have been done and yet to be done.

Back to School January 5, 2009

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Education, Family, Language, Love, My Views, Relationship, School Activities, Tradition.
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After a long school holiday, it’s a wonderful morning today! My kids and I woke up as early as 5.45 a.m. Everyone was excited, including my wife who hurried to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast. My Form 2 Timothy was too excited to go to school. He told me that he’d walk to school as there’d some chores to do before the class begins. He took a quick breakfast of his “kolo mi” – instant fried noodle, which he prepared for himself as early as 6.15 a.m.

Theophilus and I went to school before 7.00 a.m., and by the time we reached school it was already lively. Everyone was cheerful. Yes, everyone – both parents and their children alike.

There was no assembly today, as the headmaster wanted the teachers to start classes. He told us that he was expecting officers from the DEO to make a visit to the school on this first day.

Applying for a Promotion September 20, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in 2009, Career, Education, My Views, Relationship, Teachers' Training, Writing.
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Now that I have a scroll, and I have been busy preparing papers to apply for a promotion. At the moment I am in DGA32 under the non-graduate teacher service scale. With my first degree I am applying for DGA41 scale. Two weeks ago I prepared two letters, one to be sent to our headquarters in Kuching and another to the Education Ministry in Putrajaya. Both letters are similar. I enclosed copies of my birth certificate, identity card, letter of offer from the varsity, study permit from our ministry, DGA29 appointment letter, DGA29 service confirmation announcement, the scroll and the academic transcript, teachers’ training certificate, and the Certificate of Education. Despite these documents are small and light weight, I ran here and there to photocopy them and ‘chased’ the headmaster to get his signature. It was like chasing after an artist for an autograph!

Attending the 6th OUM Convo September 7, 2008

Posted by rbjtimban in Career, Education, Family, Language, My Views, Teachers' Training.
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20th August 2008

Sat for my Penilaian Tahap Kecekapan at Sekolah Menengah Teknik, Betong. The paper, Kertas Umum, was a one hour paper, from 9 – 10 a.m. It was quite tough despite a good preparation I have made earlier. Right after the examination my family and I started our journey down to Kuching. My sister, Suzie, rode in our car too. I had planned for the journey to start at 11.00 a.m., so it would be nice once we reach the little town of Lachau by 12.30 p.m. for lunch. I drove cautiously as the load was ‘good’ for the car. At 12.45 p.m. we reached Lachau and had our lunch there. By 1.30 p.m., we hit the road again and proceeded to Kuching. As it was after lunch, I felt sleepy behind the wheel. My wife and the kids and also my sister kept me awake by talking about a lot of things along the way. After half an hour, and as the heat of the day rose, the car air-con gave way. All my passengers were quiet and I knew they were all sleepy. I had to turned my car radio on to beat the sleepiness. Yes. I stayed awake until we reached the town of Serian – approximately two hours from Lachau. I told them that we had to ease ourselves at the public washrooms by the roadside before continuing our journey to Kuching. It would be another one and half hour drive to Kuching. After the brief stop at Serian, we proceeded on our way. Finally, we reached Kuching, my sister-in-law’s place at Taman Kalien at around 3 something.

21st August 2008

As arranged earlier, Ken, my brother-in-law sent, my family and I in my car to the LCCT airport to check in. We brought along two big bags for the six-nights stay in Kuala Lumpur. After everything was done, we made our way to the departure gate and seated ourselves comfortably in the AirAsia boeng. I could see those eyes of astonishment and excitement among my three children. I told them that the flight would be very interesting (which I did not like very much). We took off at 1145 a.m and the weather over the Kuching was good. But when we hovered over the skies of KL, the weather was rough. I did not like the bumpy plane and a lot of bad imaginations came into my head. Despite the storm, we touched down safely at KL LCCT. From the airport, we took the airline bus to KL Sentral. We reached KL Sentral after an hour ride from the airport. It drizzled when we reached the station but we had to look for a taxi to take us to our hotel. After about 15 minutes of wondering, an Indian taxi driver offered us a lift in his van. He said he would lift my whole family if I agree to pay him RM30 for the trip. As we were new to the place, I did not mind the rate. The driver did not talk much, and my family and I were also silent. We simply enjoyed the city view through the van window. In less than half an hour, we reached Tune Hotels at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman and checked-into our rooms in no haste.

22nd August 2008:

After breakfast, my family and I took the LRT to Putra World Trade Centre to get some info on how to collect the cloak for the convocation. We spent about half an hour at PWTC to look for the Dewan Merdeka where the convo would be held in 2 days time. From PWTC, we went on foot to the OUM campus at Jalan Sultan Ismail. The big sign board said that the campus is about 450 meters away. Along the way to the campus we met some of my course-mates from Sarawak and we felt that we were not strangers in KL! We spent about an hour at the OUM campus before going back to the hotel. I paid RM200 for the cloak, RM165 for the photographs, around RM100 for the souveniers, and drinks for the children. From the campus, we took a ride back to the hotel in a taxi. We learned that the route from the campus to the hotel was very short! I knew about this when the taxi driver told us a little bit about the places during the short trip. Later in the evening, my sister-in-law, Datin Z, arrived at the hotel from work. She invited the whole family for sight-seeing in and around KL. She took us to KLCC for dinner. I purchased a Pentax digital camera, since I have lost my Sony to a thief about a month ago. After dinner and much of the sight-seeing, she sent us back to our hotel, and I learned that the time was around 11 p.m.

23rd August 2008

It’s a ‘free’ day today. My family and I planned to take a walk around KL. Augustine and his family insisted to follow us. Earlier my sister-in-law had invited my family and I to have dinner at her place in Taman Mutiara, Shah Alam. She told us to bring Augustine and his family along. At 6.00 p.m. we took a train from KL Sentral to Shah Alam station. It was drizzling and the train was a bit crowded. When we reached Shah Alam it was already quite dark. My sister-in-law’s son, Kamil, picked us up at the Shah Alam station in his 7-seater car. From the station, he took us straight to their house. His mum had been waiting at the door to meet and welcome us.

Datin Z has a wonderful place. Despite the night, we managed to take a look around the house with the aid of lights. There’s also a family swimming pool in the backyard, and other ‘nice looking’ landscaping items. It sure was costly for a big house like hers but my wife and I just kept it to ourselves.

After dinner, we talked near her her swimming pool. My Theophilus and Timothy dipped their legs into pool. Finally at 11.00 p.m. I interrupted our conversations and told them that it was time to go back to KL. My sister-in-law offered to send us back in her car.

24th August 2008

My big day. Woke up early and get the whole family to have breakfast at the hotel. We did not go anywhere that morning as I had to get all my things packed. By 11.00a.m. we had our lunch at the hotel. A brief lunch as I did not want to rush to the convocation venue. After lunch we took a 7-seater taxi to Putra World Trade Centre. We made our way through the big crowd there. My wife helped me get dressed in the convo cloak and the mortarboard. There were so many people and the place was packed at all the five levels. By 2.30 p.m. I was among the hundreds of the other students lined up to get into the Merdeka Hall. We were ushered by the university staff. It was very well organised. By 3.00 p.m. the ‘historical’ event began with the pro-chancellor’s brief speech and followed by the handing of the scrolls. I was the sixth scroll receipient to receive the scroll that afternoon, and it was really heart-throbbing while on stage. I felt I was at the top of the world that moment. When it was all over, we proceeded to the upper level of the venue to have our photographs taken. It was a long wait as there were so many people around. By 7.00 p.m. my family and I had our photographs taken and after that we made our way back to the hotel.

Once back at the hotel, it was already quite late. Everyone was tired to even take a stroll to the nearest restaurant. Tired. We went to bed as early as 11 p.m. that evening.

25th August 2008

Another day in KL. I arranged to return the cloak to PWTC and collect the actual scroll and the academic transcripts from the varsity admin in the morning. I went there alone, as my family were still feeling tired. My wife spent the whole morning doing the laundry using the hotel machines. I went back to the hotel before noon. After lunch, we strolled KL again…

26th August 2008

We decided to take a walk close to the hotel. As we have seen a lot of KL everyone was very content. As we have been in KL for almost a week, we had bought alot of things. The children were happy with their toys, magazines and a couple of computer peripherals, whereas my wife, with her textile.

27th August 2008

We made our way to the LCCT in the hotel mini bus. The trip costed us RM190, and Augustine and I had agreed that we bear the fare ‘proportionately’. We arrived around 9.30 a.m at the airport, and my wife and I treated the children at the airport cafe. We had nasi lemak and hot drinks for breakfast there. After breakfast we checked-in at the counter for the 11.45 a.m. flight back to Sarawak. While waiting the children enjoyed playing the luggage trolley, especially Timothy and Theophilus. They took turns giving each other the trolley push. After a long wait after check-in, we were among other passengers made our way to the plane. Our plane took off 5 minutes before the ETA, and the skies above KL was stormy. Above Kuching, once again, the flight was ‘a bit bumpy’ too, like above KL. It was raining when our plane touched down on Kuching International Airport. Ken, was there, waiting for us. From the airport, we went straight to his house to for a short rest. Trevor and Timothy took some of our luggage in a taxi and left the airport for Betong. Everyone was relieved after the ‘rough’ flight. And we thank God for everyone’s safe touch down.