Day Tour @ Mechanisburg

An interesting day indeed. We learned it's not easy to run a city, met a cool Police Chief and Mayor and met with the dead. We never know that dead animals can be so "ALIVE".

First Friday @ Gettysburg

It's FIRST FRIDAY @ Gettysburg!!!

What's that? Hmmmm....

Well it is an initiative by the local business in downtown Gettysgurg to get its people and community out to shop, wine and dine. It was indeed a great experience for me. The shops were full of people and they serve wine and cheese. So classy rite!

Well what makes things interesting that night was there was a group of soon to graduate college students partying all night long. I cannot resist and took a photo with them. That reminds me of my youthful days.. hahaha.

Now i know where to go when I am here of the First Friday.

The party animals (My host family Judi , Stan and their friends)

The rowdy college students and me

Sisters of Swing at Allenberry Playhouse

I had a wonderful Saturday with my host family - The Kellys.

Mike and I spent the morning after breakfast running some errands which turned out to be an adventure for me. I got a chance to visit a rare 'shoes smith' whose little workshop is an art in its own right. Later, I have the pleasure to visit the Susquehana Bank (where Mike works) to see in person how the "ATM Drive Thru' works.



The real treat however was the dinner and later a theater performance at the Allenberry Resort Inn and Playhouse. This unique resort resides along the Yellow Breeches River which is famous for fly fishing. I was surprise to learn that John Travolta gained his fame starting by performing at the Allenberry Playhouse. If Travolta fans wish to see him in his youthful glory, a visit to this playhouse is a must for you will be greeted with an amazing photo of Travolta with his 'killer's smile' in a commemoration booklet at the entrance of the playhouse - look closely!

The focus of this blog post however is on the 'Andrews Sisters'. The Andrews Sisters were a prolific and hugely successful close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras, consisting of three actual sisters: LaVerne, Maxene and Patty. Entitled the 'Sisters of Swing', the play lasted for 2 hours with a 15 minutes intermission. It was such a well planned performance.

During World War II, the Andrews Sisters entertained the Allied forces extensively in America, Africa and Italy, visiting Army, Navy, Marine and Coast Guard bases, war zones, hospitals, and munitions factories. The excellent performance of Anne Montavon (Patty), Melissa Dvozenja (Maxene), Jessica Kaufman (LaVerne) and Andrew Lyons (who plays all the man's role) brought the audience, young and old, back to those trying era. One of the nice touch of the play was how the producer had invited a veteran army man from the audience to appear on stage with the cast in one scene of the second half of the performance. This brief cameo performance from a member of the audience paid tribute to all who had served in the US Army. The cast lined up to thank the audience for their support at the end of their performance.

Needless to say I had enjoyed myself tremendously. Though it took 40 minutes to travel to and fro the venue, this evening had been wonderful for Mike, Mary Kay, Rachel and I.



p/s: unfortunately, no photograph is allowed in the playhouse.

vocational day - stationaries and culinary arts

The Philips Groups, which provides sales of stationery's, office equipment, office furniture, printing service and their latest venture into coffee machines is just amazing. they used to have retail stores and converted them to just one (or two if we count the one in Maryland) huge warehouse that doing ordering and delivery service. I didn't expect that Troy (the Operations director) to put me on a truck and witness the delivery service. no matter big order like a printer or small like an eraser, they will delivery it with no extra cost! how's that sound like?

I was put into the Cumberland-Perry Area VoTech School for culinary arts. Next thing i know, i was like a real kitchen with very talented Chef Tim McGrath (like hell's kitchen on TV but Chef doesn't curse like Gordon Ramsay) Chef got me into adding jam into our pineapple cookies and i was making mushroom soup which is going to be served the next day at school!

P/S: we just hit our 1000 view today!

Hanover Public School District

Dr Alan Moyer, the Superintendent of Hanover Public School District had kindly arranged for me to visit the Hanover High School. I visited 6 classes in total. Special thanks to Mr Samuelsen, the principal and Mr Kraus, history teacher, for giving a tour of the school and Mackenzie Naill and Kyra Shaffer, the students who guided me from one class to another.


With Dr Alan Moyer and Kyra Shaffer at the entrance of the office


I was so fortunate to have the opportunity to observe and learn from some excellent teachers. I saw how patient Ms Rega was with her ELL students. I learned from Mrs Erin Smith the power of extensive reading in her Academic English class. I was so impress by the great presence of Mr Bauer and his love for history and world affair. I had a great time interacting with Mr Bauer and his students and shared our views on some world affairs pertaining to our respective countries and regions. I had the opportunity to see how Mr Suter incorporate technology in his Environmental Science class where students took their quiz online. Mrs Sara Little showed me how silk screen printing is done and some of her students' work in her Art class. There is even an art exhibition that is on going in the school where her students display their finest art work in various media. Mrs Frank's Journalism class was very impressive with 3 students taking care of the production of the entire school newsletter.



Mrs Smith with her English Academic Class students


Each link represents a book that the students finished reading


Some art display


In the evening, I returned with my host family as spectators of the Drama Night - a tradition that has lasted for 50 years in this school and there is not a sign that it is slowing down. The freshman, sophomore and senior each performed a play. Rachel Kelly, the daughter of Mike and Mary Kay Kelly (my host family) won an award for her cameo performance in their freshman play - 'Conflict'. The Sophmore's 'Harry Potter Parody!' won the best director award as well as the best drama award. Whereas senior student, Jaide Finfrock won the best actress award in 'Our American Zombie'.


Freshman Performance: Conflict


Sophmore Performance: Harry Potter Parody!


Senior Performance: Our American Zombie



Award sponsor by Garrick Jewelers


I must say that the sophmore did a great performance that night with their witty and hilarious plots, dialogues and great characters. I personally was impressed with an Asian girl, Lily Tran whose portrayal of Malfroy was just superb. She won an award for her cameo performance.

The first Mercedes 1886 n the latest Porsche

Can u ever imagine the the first Benz was patent in 1886! Now u know why it was sure an expensive car to own.

Well, u can choose the car below , a new Porsche only selling at $68,951 a bargain indeed from $ 71,020...

The day I spent my 40th Birthday

Today the 3rd of May 2011, i turned 40.. and i spent it in USA! Thanks to the host family Tom and Kathy Burson n Sorensen and host family , Dave and Joan Burns , we had a small birthday dinner and wine and a cake baked by Joan . It was so delicious. The best activities for the day was that i got to visit a big i mean big car dealer in Penn state, Sun Motor and i was shown around the the 40 acres premises which include 4 dealership , Mercedes, Porsche, BMW and Audi by the CEO of the company, Mr Daniel K sunderland, I am indeed honoured.

Vocation DAy 3 @ Mechanisburg

A day which I look forward to is always the vocation days as it allows me to learn new things. And of course meet pupils from the school. Today I was fortunate to be able to visit three schools.

1. Fairview Elementary School
2. Crossroads Middle School
3. Hill Top Academy

At the first location, Fairview Elementary School, I had a great time with the pupils from Grade 3 class. They had a CLASS Blog that allows pupils to show the class activities and share ideas. The school uses IMAC in class and I was surprised how the pupils are able use the MAC effortlessly. The also had a smart boards that was utilised by the teacher frequently. The class had fun and they also asked many interesting questions about my country, Singapore.

Next we headed to the Crossroads middle school and abserve how classrooms are integrated with technology using MAC Books, Smart Boards and how they include the use of IT into their curriculum.

Lastly we went to Hill Top Academy. This is a sepcial school serving about 90 pupils with special needs. I can observe that many of the strategies used were very interesting and the facilities and manpower supports special education and meet the needs of the child. In a basic classroom, they have a teacher, a teacher assistant and a learning behaviour specialist. The teacher would have a goal for the pupils and they collect points for the class. If they did well on the day, they would get to go to the honours period which allows them to play computer games and etc. Another interesting thing is that they have a dog in class for therapy.

I would like to thank the staff of the three schools for bringing me around the school and answering my questions. Especially to Karen who took time to accompany me and make arrangements with the schools. Definitely a cool thing to do...

Fly Baby Fly!

The Whitaker Art and Science Center has so much to offer to stimulate one's mind and appreciation towards Art and Crafts. The "Fly It" device was so simple to operate and it made the paper plane flying so impressive and fun. This will be a great attraction in Science Fair if only I could bring one back to my school.

American Red Cross

Zack and I had a great time at the American Red Cross where we got back a lot of great goodies - very much like kids in a candy store. We will definitely look forward to visit the next Red Cross Chapters.

Catholic High School

I was fortunate to be bale to attend a class in Catholic High School and observe a mathematics class. The teacher utilise the use of technology to teach the class. I attended an honours geometry class and soon realised that I was in the presence of intelligent and hardworking young adults.



The smart board also captured my attention and after the class I did not hesitate to ask the nake of the programme. I will definitely share this technology of smart board to my principal and hope it will be installed in my school soon.

I also had the opportunity to meet up with the school's president Paul. I had learned about the challengers of running an independent school. It is a difficult job but I know Paul is the right man for the job.


In the evening, Howe and I followed Catholic High School for the Quiz Bowl Competition at the Withaker Art and SCience Center. It was interesting to see how a live TV programme is telecast. The competition was a close one but in the end, the Catholic High School emerged Champions. CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Beautiful Lancaster

I would like to share some beautiful and interesting sights of Lancaster. Thank you for the wonderful weather....

Thank you Pattersons

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my second host family, Stephen and Kathy Patterson for their warm hospitality for the past week. I had a lot of fun learning and discussing current affairs issues with them. I also had Easter Sunday dinner with their family and ate a alot of delicious food. The menu includes Turkey, Smoke Lamb, Corn, Sweet Potato, Mashed Potato and many more.



I wish you and your family well and hope we will keep in touch with one another in the future. Good Bye my Hi Tech host family.:)

Singapore School versus American School

On my tour to many Rotary Clubs presentations, the most frequent questions asked to me is " How is your education system in Singapore different from the US?" Well I would like to share them in this blog as to provide a better perspective on this issue.



Singapore being a tropical climate do not have 4 seasons thus we do not have long winter or summer breaks. In fact, our cirriculum in break down into 4 terms and each term consists of 10 weeks. The structure of our school year is as follows:

Term 1: 10 weeks
Holiday for 1 week in Mid March
Term 2: 10 weeks
Holiday for 4 weeks in June
Term 3: 10 weeks
Holiday for 1 week in Mid September
Term 4 : 10 weeks
Holday for six weeks from mid Nov to end Dec.

The cycle continues again every year.

In addition, what is interesting is that in Singapore and Malaysia, we celebrate teacher's day and children's day in . It is a school holiday and teachers and pupils are given a day to rest. We will have parties and students will bring gifts for teachers. Cool rite.

I think we must do the same in the STATES. Students should show appreciation to their teachers :) It is long time overdue.



On a seperate note, we teachers in Singapore and Malaysia will move from one class to another and the pupils will stay in the classrooms waiting for the teacher. In the States however, it is the other way around. They teachers will stay while the pupils move to the other classroom. We, Singapore and Malaysian teachers love this ideas as we have our own classroom and are able to decorate and "personalise" the classroom to meet our pupils' needs.

My Darling Vincent

Just want to show you guys, how "cute" my team leader Vincent is?

We love you "Tai Ko" or Big Brother.

Amish Culture

We had a chance to be up close and personal with the Amish Culture today. We visited farm, carpentry, school and store ran by the Amish. In the afternoon, we visited the Auto Auction. Thank you Jim and Carolyn for accompanying us the whole day!

trash and limo!

Here we are, on John's Lincoln Limo, going around town, visiting to the waste management company. (limo and trash, doesnt really sound well together, right?)

we had a wonderful time learning about waste disposal and waste energy is processed and of course, we got a really good smell what the american trash smells like.









p/s: riding on a limo is a whole new experience to us, the momentum and leather seats contribute a lot of sliding! but we did have a great time in the limo.

My Easter weekend in Lancaster!

I had a wonderful Easter Friday celebration in my host family Chip and Irene Kirchner house. Look here that's my Easter basket! Chip had a family dinner with his daughter and sons and 7 grand children and i am indeed honored to be invited to the eggs painting by the grand children and adults before fest started.. we painted closed to 2 dozens of eggs and it was fun it was like back to my childhood days..