Feeling very sick. Sob. What a wonderful way to spend my birthday weekend. Sigh.

Have been really busy during practicum, so much so that I feel that I'm not in control of my life. Everyday is a routine of travelling to school, going for lessons, preparing lesson plans, meetings, consultations, going home, eating, sleeping and so on. All my friends are probably just as busy as I am, and I must say, it is really nice of them to remember my birthday. I'm really glad that I'm still on their mind, despite the little time we are spending with one another now.

I'll probably forgotten that it's my birthday, if not for all my loved ones who constantly remind me to go and choose a birthday present.

Anyway, I had my first formal observation by my NIE supervisor last Friday. It was quite horrible in my opinion. :( Nevertheless, I'm simply glad it is over. Haha, and my supervisor said I'll be a wonderful teacher. Lol. So encouraging of him. I just wanna graduate from NIE.

Although I've made numerous remarks on how stressed and busy I am during practicum, I *still* think it is heaven, as compared to NIE. I don't mind working 14 hours everyday. As long as I see the purpose and find the things I do challenging and meaningful. Most importantly, I'm allowed to be chim, because my job there is to stretch the girls' potential.

Even though many think that NUS lecturers can't teach, on the contrary, I think I have many great teachers there who taught me the true spirit of learning and teaching. Before I enter NIE, I have great aspirations. I want to be a good teacher, just like gohie. I want to promote a thinking culture in my classroom and develop students to become life-long learners. I want to develop my own teaching philosophy, which is a melting pot of that of my idols' and gohie's.

My interest in Math was killed in NIE. Luckily there's still gohie who is very encouraging towards my research. If not, my interest would be completely wiped off. Therefore, before I started practicum, I swear that I'll never ever kill a student's interest in the subject. During these few weeks of practicum, I was stressed, but at the same time, I was happy because I can be myself once again. There's Prof Xu, who is very passionate bout math and math education. Talking to him on Saturdays is a joy.

So, I don't look forward to 9th May as much as the others.