This morning i had to go to another venue for tuition. I came back at abt 12, with my driver driving me back. I tried to get myself a better copy of periodic table here, the previous copy that i printed out at a computer centre nearby was very bad. I found a better centre just nearby( my home doesn't have a printer here). Lastly, after math tuition here, i decided to walk some distance, to get myself some exercise. I managed to cover abut 3 Km, i think, looking at the fare that came up.It saved me about a dollar. May not be much, but it's nearly half the total travel cost.i usually comes up to around 2.50 s'pore dollar. i fell so much better and fresh. Think i need more, especially i can't find time to do my regular running here.

we really made good use of the driver today. He had to fetch me to the chem tuition centre this morning,. My lesson started late since the teacher arrived late. I can't complain since he's not asking for much money evn though he's got a Phd. After bringing me back, he had to fetch me to the course centre in the evening. I came back in an auto, since it was out of his 'work time'.
You won't believe this: Today, in chem lesson, the teacher told me tt i was very good!!! I couldn'rt believe it too.... we were doin radioactivity. So, thanks to Mr Lim, who taught me that chapter. There's tuition tmr morning, i've got to sleep early. and i just had dinner. I'm growing fat:(

The test today was tiring. (3x2)hrs, with a 2 hr break in between. For the first time, i actually bothered to work out my marks using the solutions provided. There are 2 papers, 3 hrs each, with negative marking, all mcqs ( some questions may have more than one choice as correct ans. I you miss out, there'll be negative marking. Wow, how torturous...). The highest % i got was for the math section, 30%. You wouldn't want to hear about the rest. After the test, i did some walking. Only about 1Km, but it was refreshing. I'm going for the chem tuition tmr. I'll be arriving just on time, there's no chance to visit the park. I should have taken that camera with me the last time...

The strap of my old watch has spoilt. It's torn near one of the holes. So guess what: My mom's sister bought me a new one here. Well, it is 30M weter resistant, but only thing is that it doesn't come with the barometer like in my previous watch. here:
Test tomorrow, yes, the 6hr one. We've got a temp. driver for the car. He'll be bringing me to the test place tmr.

Math lesson yesterday was as usual-we did binomial theorem and i was struggling to get what the teacher was trying to say. After the lesson, i was talking to a few of my classmates and i discovered that they were blur like me too, especially during the math lesson.
Today is a holiday here. My grandpa is trying to get me to try the universities here, just in case i don't manage to get into NUS. I've noticed that the culture here is very different and this affects the teacher-student relationship here, in most institutions. Also, heavy importance is placed on academic stuff.
And also, some of the application methods here are very wierd- i'm like supposed to fill in the form online, print it.this way of usiong technology is like riding on a car driven by horses.

Today, i had to wake up early in the morning. I was shivering till i defrosted myself with some hot water in the bathroom. Wow, that was wonderful. I ended up reaching very early, and since i was a 'visitor' i was not allowed in since the teacher has not yet arrived. So, i decided to go to the scenic park (alongside a lake), which i saw on my way there. It was just a 5 minutes walk from the college, so why not? I should have brought a camera along. Although it was much smaller that i expected it to be, it was a relaxing and a peaceful experience at the start of the day. I wish i had more time to be there. the only down thing about the park is that there is no sheltered place to sit in. Ya, it hasn't rained a single bit since i arrived here (yes, you can read that again: it hasn't rained a single bit). After that, i went on for my tuition. it is possible for me to read the stuffs on my own, but somehow it helps if a teacher is there to explain the stuff to me. Guess how long he taught me for- 3 Hrs yup- from 9am to about 12 15. At about 12, i had thoughts of asking for a break or maybe suggesting to him that we can continue on the next lesson, but i let him stop. We did 3 chapters today and according to him we can be finishing the syllabus in a week's time. Guess i'll have toconcentrate more on organic chemistry then...
After the tuition, i came back home for lunch and a good afternoon nap(yes, i've been sleeping a lot since i stopped running). For the tuition, we did math today- i'll continue later- tomorrow is a public holiday here- Indian republic day

I'll just add on to the previous post, since i had some publishing problem yesterday, which i'll talk about afterwards. So, the chem-HOD there agreed to teach me everyday, which was a very good offer, since he has a Phd in chemistry. My mom and i were well greeted and welcomed. He scanned through my syllabus and comment that it was all easy and basic stuff and that he can spare me some time for this week, since there is only invigilation to do. Well, finally, i can get some light on the alien chem topics here, like surface tensiopn and stuff. The only down thing is that the travelling time is like 1.5hrs. Well, i can't really complain about that, since my classmate at tuition class travels 3hrs to the centre. Today, he was complaining that he'll only be reaching home at 12. Poor thing... I was also told to report for my first lesson today morning, at 9. (pls see the next post for today)

Some good news: I've managed to find a personal chem tutor for myself, atleast for a week.the thing is that my present neighbour's (over here) sister is a principal of a university here (not a big one, but just a small one offering a few science and arts courses. He said that i can take tuition from a chemistry professor there. So, my mom and i went to the school. The people there were real nice to us.

Test, riots and presents

After the technician came in, the wireless system, the laptop could connect to the internet, but the desktop could not. And then, he came back in to fix it, and the laptop couldn't connect, while the desktop could. And then, we called him up again, and everything is now alright:) He said something like, he put the sign up name and password into the modem itself so that we don't have to dial up. I wish i had been in the room to check on how he does that...
I've a lot to blog about:
There was a test yesterday morning, yes, on a sunday. If there isn't a test, then there'ld be lessons, 2 of them, like in last week. Before that, 2 days ago, on my way to the tuition school, i saw some people protesting ( not quitely, but non-violently), about the execution of Saddam, and i thought it would be over in a day or two, and didn't think so much about it. Then, the next day, i read on the newspaper that there was rioting and burning of stuff at another place in Bangalore itself. Then, yesterday, i went for the test and found out that the test centre was somewhere else. Fortunately, i was early and so had time for the journey. But after i arrived, like during the 'A' levels, i was supposed to check my name on a list outside the building. But i couldn't find my name, and also couldn't even find my number there. So, i went to the invigilators there for help and i just sat in a random place and because of all these mess, had to start like 5 minutes late. As for my classmates, some of their names were there, but their numbers were all mixed up. And i also got to know that there was going to be a paper 2 in the afternoon, so as usual, i didn't eat much till the entire test was over. I was going to take an auto back home, but i got a call from my mom's sister saying that there are a lot of riots along the way home and that i was supposed to wait for them to come pick me up in the (new) car.
What actually happened on the other side was that she has hired a driver for that day and was travelling back home from somewhere, with my grandpa and uncle(who just arrived from Tanzania, he has a big house and a car there). So, they told the driver to come pick me up. the driver denied and insisted that he has to leave for something and so was trying to get them home. But along the way, there was way too much rioting that the driver simply got off the car and walked off, trying to save his own life. There was even a public bus on fire!! The thing is that while my mom's sister and grandps have had only a few hours of driving lessons, my uncle has been driving for the past 8 years in Africa. So, he doesn't know any roads here. (He doesn't have a liscence either, since he only arrived for the weekend). there wasn't much choice and they were all worried about me (trust me, i was alright all the time and didn't see a single bit of those rioting. Actually, it'll be good if i got to see some of it; so exiting!) My uncle drove, under the guidance of my grandpa, to the new test centre where i was waiting and picked me up. He drives quite well, the only sad thing is that he doesn't have a liscence here. We stopped over at a restraunt since i've not eaten much since morning ( i enjoy living without food). After that, we finally got home.
Today, my uncle brought me to a shopping centre nearby to get me some presents, since he hasn't seen me for like 10 yrs ( he has a son, 7 yrs old i haven't seen that cute little boy yet...). He's super rich, i tell you, he has an 80 GB i-pod, can you believe that? 80 GB!!! Well, i played with it for a while and came to a conclusion that i'll be much happier woith my cd-player. Before i forget, tuition is off for today, because of all those rioting. Well, here is a pic i took in my new clothes:

Altogether, the polo-tee inside and the denim jacket, together with the pants cost an equivalentof 100 s'pore dollars

The auto driver today was bad...he brought me through a super-long way, and was like shouting at other drivers along the way too. Well, i was at first quite glad to get an auto in the first place, after waiting for like 5 long minutes in the super cold 15 deg celcius with strong wind... After applying my newly-developed argumenting technique, i managed to solve the sudoku on my way to the tuition centre. It was easier than the previous one anyway, i only had to use my special method once. This time, it should be correct, i double checked it when i got stuck in the traffic jam For the first time, i came in about 2 minutes late into class, there was a lot of traffic jam today. I should be leaving earlier tomorrow. Math today, i managed to solve 2 problems(yes, in the whole of 3 hours) , but it wasn't bad as usual. I saw some good problems (i hope i can show them to the J1s, but i tell you, they are harder that f-math stuff. I'm still trying to get used to this. Physics tmr should be more fun... We haven't found a driver for the car yet. Till we get one, i'll have to put up with all those nasty auto drivers. There's going to be test this sunday. It's going to include the whole syllabus. God bless me... here are the pics.

This is the new car. man, the camera's flash is damn good, i took it at night. it was quite dark...

and below is the Sudoku that i've finished...:)

wow, blogger has this feature that i'm seeing for the first time(i.e, i've not seen it anywhere else): When the internet connection breaks, it says something like "saving and publishing may fail, disconnected from blogger". and the wonderful thing is that it disapears once i've connected my modem back- very useful when someone wants to use the phone here.

ya.. i didn't blog yesterday, since my mom's sis was using the modem. Her laptop couldn't connect with the wireless network for some reason. Phy yesterday was really interesting, we did SHM. Chem today, as usual. I'm thinking of how i'm going to bring back all those books. Heard that the o-level results are coming out on 15th feb, by approximation, the A level results must be out at around 25th. I was told that the course will end by mid oct, but i'm yet to approx for that. That's all for now, goto make way for my mom's sis...

My posts are getting shorter these days; nothing much to blog about. Today, there was some festival here. That didn't stop my lessons from taking place, i took some pics, which i may upload in a while. That's all for today

Today is Sunday-supposed to be no-lesson day, but since we'll be free for sure on this day, there was 2 lessons-phy and chem. If it were the other way round, i'ld not have felt so tired during chem lesson. but phy was good- i managed to solve 50% of the problems and even managed to point out a mistake that my teacher made on board. And for one of the probs, i was like the 2nd one to get the solution and i was called up to do an explanation-and managed to do a decent job! After my lunch during my break, i started to work on a sudoku, i'll put it up once i'm finished.

chem today- i managed to do about 3 problems (till the right answer) all by myself. The auto fare for the to-journey today was really cheap-35 rupees. I'm thinking of doing a Sudoku-which reminds me-there's a mistake in my previous solution-see if you can spot it, look at the 2nd last row.... Oh ya, and the new car has arrived! I'll upload the pics soon...

Math today, I was blur as usual during the first part, when we did hyperbolas. Then, we did 3-D coordinate geometry. I was using my 3-d vectors.. and i managed to solve 2 of the problems!!! I was so happy!!!
I got my handphone recharged today, for another month.

Chem today, it was much better than i thought it would be. We did kinetics and equilibrium. I tell you, it's going to be a nightmare when it gets to organic chem. I didn't have time to say this yesterday, but the auto driver on the return route was quite bad. Initially, he demanded 1.5 times of what the price meter says and i told him i'll get another auto. Then, he asked me to give 20 rupees extra from the meter, and finnally we agreed on 15. But the thing was once he got quite near to my house, he asked me for another extra 10 rupees, saying that it'll be difficult to get back home from this area of Bangalore. After talking, i had no choice but to agree.Upon reaching, my mom and grandpa tried to lower the price, but it didn't work, and we ended up paying 80 rupees. Today, both the drivers were good. I only cost me about 48 rupees to get to the school and 49 to come back. I gave them 50 each, since it normally costs me 60 plus... That's all for taday.

This was taken the day when i did some calculus. I was doing limits. click on it. Think you'll get a bigger version or something

next page, it was quite fun.
It was going smoothly till i reached the root of tangent:

Math today, blur as usual. And the teacher had to ask me to stopn drawing so accurate diagrams and concentrate on the calculations. Well, i can't do much calculations if i've not MEMORISED the formulas. I've taken a few pics, if dinner doesn't get ready soon, i'll upload them...

Went shopping for books today, There was this bookstore some distance away. It total, the books i bought cost me about S$50. That's quite expensive here, so it was a lot of books. I got myself a chem textbook and a phy textbook, together book on coordinategeometry and calculus and inorganic cem in detail. I thought i could get a copy of the 2007 year issue of the economist, you know, the thick one that costs twice as much as normal magazines. It's half-price here. FInally, i wonder how i'm going to get all these book back to Singapore. I'll be the last to get back, my mom and dad will go back first. Maybe i'll have to give up some books first...
Math today. Parabolas. Yes, i studied that topic for a day and i was still quite slow in class, but this time, i could understand what she was talking about, the solutions and everything. That's all for now...

I (think) i didn't blog yesterday. There's not much to blog about theses days. Chem today, The teacher got to know that i'm a kid from singapore. Just like the math teacher, he told me there was a student from Singapore last year too, and that i've got to work hard. Well, i have to, if only about 20% of organic chem here was covered in the 'A' level syllabus and also since i didn;t study chapters like Metallurgy. Can you believe that periodic table is not provided in exams here?? Also, we aren't allowed to use calculators. And one more thing that i've got used to- During lessons, the teacher reads the question from some book of his and we are supposed to copy it down and solve it. Can't he print it out or something? I paid like $900 for this course ??? Heloo???

Phy today. I really enjoyed the lesson. We did the f-m mechanics stuff. I managed to do nearly all the nproblems within the time limit given. I wish i can do that for math. My first chem lesson is going to be on mon. There'll no test tomorrow, since this is the first week. I had some chance to talk around with the rest of the students during the break. And yes, there was an occasion when the tacher thought i got the answer by luck, but he later understood that i actually skipped some steps. my first chem lesson's going to be on mon. God bless me. I need to finish that math homework too. And that little phy prob.

Physics today.

Did physics today, just the vectors, kinamatics and projectile motion. Simple stuff, but difficult problems. I just found out that some of the teachers in schools here have got Phds!! No wonder they are so good! The people who sat behind be solved some of the problems in just 5-10secs! while i took like a minute. Well, the good thing is that i solved some problems in the desingnated time. I've also finally understood what a pseudo force is. It'll be physics tomorrow.(There's lessons on Saturday And just found out; TESTS on sunday, man, do i get a break here???) I really wonder how Pradeep is doing.
It should be Orientation now, back at Nanyang JC. I wish i can pop in, but it's too far ( over 1000 km!!) Coincidentally, i was wearing my orange projectX tee yesterday...

slightly better today

Today's lesson was slightly better. We did circles. during the break i had a chancve to tell the teacher that i'm from Singapore and she told me that she had a student form singapore last year too, and he was struggling i do now. Well, i did some preparation for the lesson but that didn't help much. I mean- how much can i study in a day? Tomorrow is chemistry, i think. I tell you, i have a strong feeling it's going to be bad. Let's just hope that the teacher has mercy on me this time... Today, i got myself registered for another exam, AIEEE, apart from just the IIT one.

Did you say something?

just came back from tuition. We did math today. For 3 hrs. U wanna know what chapter/topic? Here: Coordinate geometry. u wanna know which part of it? here: straght lines. Yes, straight lines for 3hrs. Read it again, if you need to. The thing is that there is a super lot of new stuff here. It's like what i've learnt so far in A level syllabus is only like 5% of what they teach here. the reason why i say this is that out of the 3hrs the lesson took place, i only understood about 10-15 minutes of it. And listen: the worst part is that it's going to be math tomorrow too. Still coordinate geometry, for another 3 hrs. We're going to do circles. She gave us a summary of straight lines and i was busy copying from the black board all the time. She was writing super fast! And speaking fast too, and it takes time for me to figure out the acccent, although it's english. I nearly fainted when she started off with " Class, i hope you know the standard equations of a straight line. Can you list all seven of them?". I was like what if she asks me? I only know 2 of them! Luckily the rest of the class were all very good at this topic and recited all of them. I could have added y=mx+c , but somebody shouted it before me. After 1hr of this kinda thing, we were to practice some problems-yes, for the remaining 2hrs. While we were doing the given problems, she was like walking around, checking on everyone's progress. Luckily, she didn't concentrate so much on my table- i was sitting at the front. may be that's the reason for me not getting so much attention. Well, i pretended to be working furiously- it was okay, since i was actually cracking my head. I tell you, the physics lesson yesterday was so much better. i'm going to seriously mug on circles for tomorrow's lesson-i've got to-to save myself.

We did physics today - 3 hrs of teaching problem solving techniques. Today, since i was in the classreoom in the evening, i discovered something el;se to add to my list: The classroom, while being about 1.5 times the size of an average classroom in singapore has only 2 tube lights! Well, but the lesson was quite thought-provoking and there was only about 10 people(5 absent) in the classroom. My mom was waiting for me nearby since i was still not sure of the way back. Well, i ended up that i had to show the driver the way, since my mom forgot. According to my mom, i'm still having fever and so i was only allowed to take certain food. I feel much better now. I was given 2 tablets, ( 1 for cold, another one for fever) and asked to do steam inhalation and also given some cough syrup- all over the phone consultation ( ref. to previous post). At this time, i heared from my mom that when i used to be in India, as a little kid, i used to visit the doctor nearly every week-for fever, cold and stuff. But in Singapore i only need to visit the doctor like 2-3 times a year(although the amount spent may be the same).
That's all for now.

Doctors here

I was quite sick yesterday and guess what happened. My mom was trying to get me to visit the doctor, but no, all i needed was some rest. So, my mom's sister (She lives here) just called up a specialist doctor and told him that i'm having a fever and cold. OVER THE PHONE, he prescribed some tablets and asked me to take some rest and lots of water. After that, since he was a specialist and it's quite rude to ask him a lot of questions over the phone, she called another doctor to check the details of the medicines he presribed. The doctor asked for my age and stuff, and before the end of the conversation, the doctor even said "call back tomorrow, i need to check how he is doing, alright?" I was like wow! The 2 doctors gave a free consultation over the phone? That's rare. I was very touched.
Now for the sudoku: here are the pics:
Well in a sudoku, you have this 9x9 box, with 9 3x3 smaller boxes. What you do is to fill up the empty boxes such that every row,column and 3x3 box is filled with numbers 1-9 only, without repetition. For every sudoku, there is only one unique solution. i.e if you fill up a single box with a wrong number, the whole thing will be screwed. The first time i tried, i filled it up with random numbers and it became super-screwed- with this method, i couldn't even solve a simple one.
The method i'm using now guarantees that the numbers entered are correct. first, write into the boxes,

i was in the middle of filling up the possible numbers. Already, some boxes had only one possibility.

Here, i've finished filling up all the possibilites. Some already begin to emerge, but i got stuck at this point and was staring at this for half an hour. Then i came up with a new method of eliminating possibilities.very difficult to describe here.

Done!

Today is going to be my first lesson- they are going to give the materials and stuff, and may be teach some stuff.

Okay, new year's day...: I went to temple with my grandpa in the morning and syudied and oh ya! i did a Sudoku. But before that, we had prayers at 12 midnight here, and i slept quite late. SInce i tried and managed to do a medium difficulty one, i wanted to try a hard difficulty one. After i found it in the local Hindu magazine, i started to work on it. I got stuck just before starting the prayers and continued it in the morning. After working for about 1.5 hrs, i managed to solve it, it was quite difficult, pics later.
I went running today at the park. The trouble is that i have a cold now, that seems to be getting old. And, to worsen the situation, i drunk a cup of milk about half an hour before my run. Very bad; I got tired easily and ended up running for about 10mins. Very bad too. The worse thing is that since i'll be having classes every weekday and saturday from tomorrow onwards. Sinc my lessons coincide with the park's opening hour, i can't run. I feeling kinda sick now. I'm beginning to miss Singapore;the weather and stuff. I'll have to put up with it for the next 2 months. I think i've a fever, quite tired right mow, will get back later. Happy new year!!!