The Mad Hatter's Party

this morning, i was asked by ms foo soo ling & ms sandra teng
to join their sabbatical girls for tea
at this tea place opposite nygh.

their sabbatical was about how to carry out good conversations
and what tea etiquette's about.
and on the final day (today),
the students were supposed to host a few of us teachers at the tea place
and conduct good conversations over tea and a light meal.

i was with this group of 3 students from 403 and 404 -
quite well mannered girls,
although it took some time for the conversation to warm up.
it's not easy to have tea and conversation with people you don't know well lah.

but i have to say that as the session progressed,
they gradually opened up,
and were quite forthcoming too.

we talked about
their ccas,
the schools we went to,
jc life,
gp vs ki,
the 90th anni musical,
arts subjects vs science subjects,
religion etc...

of course wrt to religion you have to discuss with discretion,
that kind of topic can be quite sensitive.

1 point of note,
they agreed too that many students go into the science stream,
because there are more job prospects in that.
i mean even students who might be more arts-inclined.

my sabbatical ended today with a dramatised reading.
had some rather good plays,
one funny one had this prince with pig's skin called hamson
who's hounded by 3 clingy girls called bel, bella and belly
it's quite funny, how these girls keep pestering the prince,
and it turned out that they wanted to ensnare hamson
because they wanted to eat his pig's skin.
so in the end hamson married a vegetarian named cabbage --
to save his own skin!!
so creative, can think of such a ridiculously funny plot.
there were also lots of socially conscious ones
on real life issues such as whale poaching
and the true story of this korean man who's born in a jail.
many of the students also got their ideas
from the issues/scenarios that were raised in class.
great, shows that they were paying attention.

to be frank,
i was disappointed when some of them
told me on day 1 that the module wasn't their first choice,
but from the good plays we have today,
i think they've gotten something out of it,
so i'm happy about that.

yesterday, we watched the phantom of the opera movie during sabbaticals.
i didn't really like it when i watched it in the theatres in 2004,
but this time round,
i felt more for the phantom.
he's loathed by all because of his deformity
and thus has never experienced love from others.
he's a figure that doesn't know how to relate to others --
like an animal, he follows his primal instincts,
and kills anyone who's against him.
and yet he's supposed to be a genius --
a composer, architect, inventor and magician etc.

that's the part of the story i have a problem with,
how can someone with such an undeveloped and crude nature
be a genius in things so refined like music and architecture?

but it's quite moving in that when christine finally shows
love (not erotic!) and compassion for him,
he can't take it and breaks down.

well that's a beautiful moment for me.
the savage receiving love when he least expects it,
and crumples because of it.

i think i didn't like the movie when i first watched it
principally because gerard butler (the actor who played the phantom)'s
singing was absolutely awful!

and I still think so now!