Panicking...

It's been too long..I know.

First things first, our Eid celebration. It was good spending Eid in Malaysia. The first day we just stayed home and entertained my father's friends. The next day we left early (5:30am to be exact) for Kangar, Perlis and on the way we dropped by my kampung in Selama , Perak. We were in Perlis for 4 days and during that time I ate a lot and went shopping at Padang Besar.

Work was resumed on the 10 November but I got sick that weekend. I was struck by a terrible cough. Each time I had coughed it got very bad and at times I ended up vomiting a bit of what I ate. So I went to the doctor and got some medicine. Then my eyes were infected by conjunctivitis and I was ordered by the doctor to stay at home for 2 days. So that was the first time I got medical leave from work.

So my full week at work after the holidays started earlier this week. And since I start lecturing tomorrow (28 November) I was panicking and worked like mad everyday. I had to finalise the handouts that I was going to give my students and prepare the lecture OHP slides. I only managed to send the handouts to the printing office last Thursday afternoon and I told them that I will collect them on Saturday (yesterday) morning. At that time I didn't know that I had to attend an induction course for new staff on Friday and Saturday. So as of yet, I have still not collected the handouts and my first lecture is scheduled for Monday morning 9am. Hence, tomorrow morning people in UNITEN will witness a panicking lecturer running to the printing office to fetch the handouts and then running to the lecture hall to present her first ever lecture. I just hope I'll make it through the lecture in one piece.

I don't think I'm anxious about lecturing in front of 60 students but I am worried about certain prejudices that I have in mind about Malaysian students. Things like Malaysian students are generally lazy, expect to be spoon-fed and are always looking for loop-holes in the system or ways to avoid having to work hard. I need to find ways to encourage them to think, to strive to learn and to be interested in what I am teaching. I'm not too sure how I'll be able to do all that but for tomorrow I'll just go to the lecture hall and take a laid back approach to teaching. I'll be sure to tell tham that I won't entertain lazy students and I'm despise tardiness in a person's attitude. But I'll try and be laid back in my delivery of the material so that they will enjoy the lectures and hopefully listen and maybe absorb what I'm saying. So wish me luck ok?