Shopping

While talking to Nat before I started packing for the trip, he told me that if I don’t have the clothes that satisfy the dressing code at the school, then no point of going shopping in Melbourne, as Singapore is world famous for it.

The last weekend, 9th and 10th of Sep, I went and seen it for myself.

I had to wait until I got my FIN card (some kind of ID that proves my working visa) to get a discount on the mobile plan. So after I got it some time last week, the first Saturday I went to the big city in search of the phone for me.
Like I’ve been told, the city is like one big shopping mall - I spend half a day just to walk though the Orchard Rd, that was plenty for one day.

The next day, as was talked about for a while w/ David and Shan, my neighbours and fellow Internationals at the Poly, we went to JB a town on the other side of the border with Malaysia. David needed just a hair cut (yep, going across the border for the haircut) and Shan wanted to go and do some shopping. When it takes half an hour on the local buss to get there, then why not. In terms of the distance and ride experience, it’s just like going to another area of the city, pardon the fact that you need to show your passport at two customs checking points. But when you get off the buss you can tell straight away that you didn’t just get to the other side of the city, it seems like you travelled very far, if not in terms of the distance then in terms of time – as in back in time. It’s a very different world, everything looks, smells, sounds and feels different.

All that beings said, it is not surprising that the prices of everything are much cheaper for the people who are coming form a more developed country (i.e. anything that I’ve seen so far, IMO). After two meals and the amusing browse through two big shopping malls, I had my uniform assembled: two pairs of none jeans pants, couple of polo T-shirts, and couple of shits. Had to trow in couple of plain t-shirts as well - for the soul as SteveG would say. All good quality stuff for 170 Ringgits (60 AUD).

From JB, Malaysia ...

Meetings

Last few days I've been attending the number of meetings the school runs at the end of each semester. Being new, I have to admit that I haven't really understood the relevance of the most things being said, but the meeting today was something that I was rather impressed with. Actually it's not so much that I was impressed by it, as much as I've used to be disappointed that there was no similar thing (during the recent years) at the DIS. The meeting is rather simple one, subject leaders of each year discuss the due dates and the weighting of the assessment for the coming semester. This way there is a coordination of the students' work load, i.e. not all the assignments end up being due in the same week, nor does the one subject end up with 3 times as many submissions as the next one. Brilliant!

Pictures

As they say picture is worth a 1000 words...

When getting an email from someone I always like it that much more when it has pictures attached to it. So, likewise it was always my intention to attach many pictures to this blog, maybe put couple w/in a post and then have a link to a gallery or something. And this being a Google product I thought there would be convenient way of doing it...

Well think again, so far only on the paper it sounds as though this will be possible, but unfortunately (for me) it doesn't work in the practice (yet).

I've heard about goodness of Picasa about a year ago from Björn, our German exchange friend who spent a year with us at DIS. It took me a while to get to use it, but now that I'm here I must say that 'I am feeling lucky' button under 'Basic fixes' tab is doing wonderful improvements to the pictures (that I've taken). Though Picasa on its own wasn't enough and when I decided to post some pictures on this blog I was referred to a yet another product, Hello, that was suppose to make this picture-blog integration a breeze.

Instead of just reading my blabbing about photos, you can have a look at Björn's Australia photos, and if you know German you might want as well to read about his Aussie experience.

For some nice night photos of The University of Melbourne take a look at my good friend Nay's gallery. Nay also took some impressive shots of the city of Melbourne. To understand what Nay has against the sun light, you might want to try your luck by reading his blog.

From the apartment to the office

...the 5 minute walk.

Due credit

Since I'm enjoying my Singapore experience so much, I should give credit where the credit is due. First and foremost that's Shanton, a lecturer at DIS, and Nat, my fellow tutor whose position I inherited here at Ngee Ann. Thanks to two of them, the majority of the discussion during my phone interview with the poly was based around the timing of my arrival, and not about my experiences, why 'do I want'/'should I be given' the job, etc. Cannot beat the connections! Much appreciated guys!

Also, as mentioned in the post below, I'm rather comfortable with all the stuff teaching. That's thanks to the opportunity to constantly have the casual tutoring position during my stay at DIS, even in the recent times when those positions have been increasingly becoming scarce. Special thanks to all the people I've had opportunity to work with as part of 230 and 245 teaching teams during the years, as well as to admins: JennyT and James who helped me in many ways on many occasions.

Since this looks like I am preparing for the Oscars, I might as well mention that I've spent waaaay more time at DIS then at home, or anywhere else for that matter, in the last 5 yrs, and so I've gotten to know basically everybody who works there: from the head of the department, to the cleaners; and who studies there: from Phds to undergrads. And they all have been kind and helpful, so thanks ALL and good luck DIS.

Teacher

Yep, that's me, that's now my occupation. Even though I've been doing it since 2002 at the Department of IS, I never looked at it as work, as an occupation. It was something that I was doing until I found a 'real job'. And to me, all that teaching stuff never really felt like work and it has been something I really enjoy (exception: administrative things related to marks).

So it seems that it could happen to me like to Mujo (pronounced Muyo, the main character of jokes that are on Bosnian account) when he first married Fata. He marred her only temporarily until a better one came along... they're still married (happily, I hope).

Now that I have a full time teaching job as an International Fellow at the Ngee Ann Polytechnic's ICT school, I started referring to it as work.

It's funny, what makes it work now and not then, I don't know. Actually, so far I haven't done anything that's related to any kind of work. These days, my brief office time is mostly spend on-line, catching up with people and the sports news... working hard.

The next semester, and the first day of my teaching, starts on the 16th of October. I'll be teaching two subjects: 'Object Oriented Programming' and 'Object Oriented Analysis and Design'. I fully expect to be enjoying it as I always have, till then I'll just have to continue with my 'hard work'...

From NgeeAnn campus

Efficiency

I already mentioned the organisational skills at this place, but I must elaborate a bit more and give the example of amazing efficiency. Before I signed the leasing contract for the apartment, the housing manager gave me the check list to go through and to report anything that needs fixing. There was one light bulb (pronounced boob in Brazilian English), one loose socket, and a possibility of getting a TV. I told him this in the morning and by the time I was back in the apartment in the afternoon everything was fixed and little TV was there.

I missed the army, but just barely (to be posted some time later). And back home, people say that 'boys go to army and men come back'. Now I see my stay in this highly organised, efficient environment as some kind of an substitute for my army training and the opportunity to improve in those skills. Needless to say, it shouldn't be hard for me to improve, as there is plenty of room for it.