I'm worn out!

These couple of weeks, I've been really busy. Last week my work ended at about 4.30 pm everyday. The first 2 days, the choral speakers had intensive practices from 10.00 to 2.00, they basically drank, ate and spoke of nothing else except excerpts of the poem for the competition on wednesday. Yours truly had to stay back until 4.30 pm because of orchestra practice.

On Wednesday, off we went to Catholic High School for the choral speaking competition, which we didn't win, but it was a good experience altogether watching other schools performing.


A bevy of my pretty choral speakers waiting to dazzle the audience with their sweet, angelic voice.

Thursday, Friday we had orchestra practices again until 4.30 pm. Saturday was the big day as it was the school prize giving ceremony. The Pengarah Pelajaran Selangor came to officiate the ceremony. My day started as early as 7.00 am as to get the orchestra members gathered for the sound check, sadly the sound engineer only came at 7.30 am. Some of the girls came without make-up on or rather their make-up was not to our standard. Had no choice but to be the bidan terjun mak andam and actually tenyeh the girls face with the school sets of make-up. Before putting the make up, told the girls not to complain as they should have done it themselves before coming to school. I actually had fun tenyehing their face Albeit all that, I think we did a pretty good job.ahak ahak.

The prize giving ended at 12.30, rushed home, had a short nap, then at about 4 pm off we went to pick up my parents in law in ERRA FAZIRA's house (yup the actress!). She was overdue, hence my father in law was summoned to siut siut (jampi) to expedite the labour. My parents in law actually live in Kuala Terengganu but they were here to attend a wedding and my father in law actually has a gift in helping people with their predicament (aka tok bomoh) ahak ahak.



Erra and my 3 kids.

LUckily the had a pretty hearty tea in Erra the actress's house and double the bonus, there was pasar malam in front of my house so i basically didn't have to worry about preparing dinner (yippie!) Mother in law ordered mihun sup, father in law and sister in law had satay.

The next day was busy helping bibik with breakfast, parents in law left at around 9 am. At 2.00 pm off we went to ToysRus to get a birthday gift for Aina's cousin cum classmate. At 3.30 pm hubby left for Nabil's football practice, so looked like i have to bring the other 4 to the party all by myself.

At 4.30 pm we went to the party, Dhaniyah didn't want to follow as at that time she was busy watching the rerun of Tom tom Bak. So i survived the birthday party. At night was busy marking the students work after putting Hilman to sleep at 10 pm. I only managed to sleep at around 12 pm.

Suddenly, it was Monday, I had problem waking up, school as usual but had to stay back for Field Event in conjunction with the sports day commencing on the 18th April. Tuesday after school I had house practice, Wednesday in-house training on eduwebtv and today right at this moment i am supposed to be in school for house practice, fortunately it poured heavily and here I am busy blogging. Thank God tomorrow's friday, but sad to say I still have school on Saturday for a literature workshop. I feel so so tired. I need a break. Can i have a longer weekend? So who said a teacher's job is easy? Works half a day? Not that i'm complaining though.

We didn't win, again!

Today was the district level choral speaking competition, and as mentioned in the title we didn't win again! I'm not sure what my feeling is now, it's a mixture of slight frustration, disappointment and confusion but I feel bad for the girls. I believe the judging this year is better than last year but there are somethings that I just don't get it.

I'm proud that we fought well as we abided to the rules, we met the time limit, the girls were animated, their pronunciation and enunciation were clear, the material was relevant but we didn't win. I'm aware of the few minor glitches here and there but somebody please tell me where or which part that the judges were not happy with!! It was clearly stated in the rules and regulations that hand movements is not allowed, singing is definitely a no-no. We had none of those, and we are among the 3 schools which met the time limit, the rest 7 schools went less than the minimum requirement time. Not to mention, the winner on the other hand had hand movements and one of the top three schools sang. So somebody please please please tell me, where we went wrong so we can improve next year. When we did ask the judges, they just said oh you guys just missed by a few marks only. Excuse me, like how many marks? Can they just say what position we are in? It's not that we're going to make an issue out of it as we also know that the judges decison is final.

Sometimes, I just feel that, there is just no point taking part in this kind of competition, we will just never win just because we come from Sri Aman. No matter how much effort we put in or how good the girls are, the judges just feel that we don't deserve to win just because they believe we are privilleged. Hello! This thing doesn't actually come easy for us too you know. The teachers and the students had to sacrifice their time and energy practising. We sacrificed our holidays too!!!

Well, who am I to complain, just a small fry in this area but it is good to know that the standard of the choral speaking has improved tremendously. I believe the judges had quite a hard time in choosing the winners. I just wish they were more consistent in their judging. I would love to give credit to Taman Dato Harun though, they were good, their level has really shoot up. They just have to work a bit more in their diction. They were unison and their movements were sharp. The trainers (teachers) were unhappy they lost because they took the time and effort getting the students to practise (real hard), they called up the PPD and the trainer from the last year's winning team just to get a clear picture of the rules and regulations. They were clearly disappointed as the winners didn't actually follow the rules.

But girls, I'm really proud of you! You guys were talented, animated and witty, it just not our luck, again (and again)! They judges may not think that we were good but other teachers from other schools thought that we should at least got no. 3. So there's nothing to be ashamed about. Just stand tall!

Happy Birthday Mama

My Mama and Papa

Today is Mama 66th birthday. Happy Birthday to you Mama!
A small gathering was held to celebrate this auspicious occasion. As yours truly is the only daughter and still staying with Mama, a small makan-makan was organised for all the other family members.

So bibik cooked sambil tumis udang and beef curry (yeah i'm ashamed to admit that i don't really know my way around the kitchen),I only managed simple dish like my marinated fried chicken and mixed veggie (just because bibik will usually overcooked the veggie) and for drinks sirap bandung. My eldest brother brought 4 pizzas, 2 large and 2 regulars,and 2 bottles of carbonated drinks, my second brother brought 2 cakes as my nephew and niece birthday was yesterday on the 21st March and 3 boxes of yummy cupcakes. My younger brother on the other hand brought KFC. So there was a lot of food.

The event started at 12.30 pm and upon arrival of my brothers and my parents cucus(all 12 of them), the house became pretty chaotic as we all bukan reti nak cakap slow-slow pun. My mom often says that we all kalau bercakap memang macam keling karam. So when we get together is always loud kat mana-mana pun it could be in any posh hotel or restaurant or mamak stall tapi our table would be the most happening and the loudest of all. As for today's topic it was definietely the EPL football and talking about the boys favourite team Liverpool.

Anyway after helping ourselves to the food, we got all the cucus to gather around Tok Mama and sang her the birthday song and they sang for Qistina and Farhan too. Yeah we had 3 cakes. Then the most awaited event the gift opening ceremony. My younger brother and I got Mama a 3G handphone (sorrylah Mama budget lari bulan ni, so kena share dengan Adik),my eldest brother got Mama a nice Salvatore Ferragamo beige handbag (Amne bolehlah Ma, dia loyar,ada firm sendiri banyak duit)*wink* *wink* (sour grape) and since my parents are going off to Perth, Australia tomorrow, my brothers gave her some Aussie dollars too.

I know it was nothing much but I hope you're happy with how it turned up and happy with the gifts too. I love you Ma, so much. I may not say it often but I treasure every things that you have done to us. And I hope you have a lot of fun in Perth tomorrow. I love you so much that words can't actually expressed the way I feel towards you. I love you Ma and happy birthday again!

Ode to all Moms

My aunt sent me this video and it has been my favourite and would love to share it with every mothers out there. It proves that a mother's concern is universal and it helps me to feel a bit better in my approach in bringing up my children. Turns out that I'm not the only mom out there who nags too much to the children. Ahak ahak. Enjoy!

I wanna ride the hot air balloon!

This morning we made plan to have a ride on the hot air balloon in Putrajaya but it didn't materialise as the tickets were sold out. Can you believe that? We were there yesterday's evening the whole family to experience the ride and were told by the salesperson that the rides are only open to public on the morning slot from 9 am - 11 am and that the ticket booth is only open from 7 am onwards.

So today we left the house early full with anticipation that we will have the chance to ride on the hot air balloon. We were all excited on our journey to Putrajaya as this will definitely be an experience of a lifetime.

Upon reaching the parking lots, we could already see seas of cars and people bustling around the area. As it was difficult to get a spot, i volunteered to get down first to purchase the tickets whilst my hubby find a vacant parking space.

While walking to the ticket booth from afar i could see a throng of exasperated looking people walking away from the ticket booth. Still keeping my fingers crossed i was surprised to see there was no queue and so I approached.

And there written clearly on the board "Tickets for the hot air balloon ride today sold out". It was 7.20 am, how could they be sold out? I told them I thought the booth opens at 7 am and was told the tickets were sold out within 10 minutes after the booth has openeed and some actually queued from 5 am and i met a family who was here from 6.45 but didn't manage to purchase the tickets too.

So we just don't see the point to linger on as we were already there yesterday, we were frustrated so we headed to the mamak stall instead for breakfast. On the way we could see hot air balloon in the air and it was definitely a sight to behold with balloons in a shape of a peacock, clown face, a really big mug of nescafe and an orange. There were 16 hot air balloons together and it further made us sad not able to ride on one.

Kids- Pelat

The other day, when we were in the car, on our way to my hometown in Perak, my 3 year old daughter Dhaniyah said this 'ibu nak eron', all of us had a good laugh as actually what she meant was she wanted an orange. She has no problem saying the word orange actually but she has difficulty saying it correctly the first time.

After that the abang and kakak made fun of her pelat and repeatedly saying eron just to annoy her. She was pissed so i told the rest about how they too were pelat when they were her age.

I remember my son Nabil who is now 7, had difficulty saying the word kelakar, he'd always said it as kela kela....'ibu buat muka mcm tadi tu kela-kela lah ibu. And there was one time when he was about 2 when he said 'aner ater ater abil' and he was starting to throw tantrum when we couldn't comprehend what he was saying. He kept saying those words over and over again when finally the kakak who was 4 at that time when ooo...Nabil nak water bottle ke? and gave him his new water bottle then only he was quiet and started giggling again as he got what he wanted.

As for Khairina who will be 6 in October, and when she was about 3 she said 'tatut taet' (takut cat) and when she was younger she had difficulty saying susu and she'd go 'nak us us.'

I can't remember Aina who will be 9 this year being pelat though because she could talk at a very young age. She could jawab salam the 'waalaikumsalam' even before she reaches 2 and I remember one night when she was about one year plus she had a fever and in the middle of the night she went 'nak vitagen' 'nak vitagen', isn't something for a toddler to be able to say such! I didn't see it as a great accomplishment then though many took notice and were amazed by her verbosity, but now when i compare her to her younger siblings, i'm starting to think back and amazed too.

But now that they have outgrown their pelatness, i'm starting to miss it and how we use to go through a lot of trouble in comprehending what they were trying to convey. Sometimes, I wish they don't grow up too fast, their antics are actually music to my ears.

I suck!

I truly suck at blogging. I need a mentor. Volunteer? Anyone?

A Visit to the Kellie's Castle

Last Sunday, we attended my cousins's (2 brothers) wedding in Kuala Kangsar Perak. As the wedding was at night, we decided to put up a night in a resthouse in KK as it'll be cumbersome and dangerous to travel late at night with my family of seven, my mom and a maid. Well, the wedding was different than the usual wedding i've attended. It was held in a resort in Sg Perak, they were brought to the reception area via the Sg Perak with a boat (ala-ala kahwin Mawilah macam tu).

The canopies were well lit and nicely decorated with pictures of the brides and grooms strolling around the kampung area on their basikal tua,wearing kain batik and tattered looking pants. Very classic kind of photos! Anyway, it's not about the wedding that I want to talk about. It is about my experience visiting the Kellie's castle.

So after checking out of the resthouse, we decided to have our lunch at the famous restaurant called Tasik Raban restaurant in Ipoh which served succulent and scrumptious ikan bakar and other masakan kampung like the tempoyak, masak lemak, sambal petai udang and all the ulam-ulam. So after lunch as we were heading to the PLUS highway, when my eldest daughter Nuraina kept telling my hubby how she wished she gets to visit the Kellie's Castle as she has been reading about it in her Year 3 BM book.

She kept pestering and informing the lot about the majestic Kellie's Castle. As she was making a lot of noise we then made a detour to the Batu Gajah exit. After about 20 minutes driving on a quiet, desserted streets, there stood the magnificient castle. Everybody got excited upon seeing the castle's towers. My kids went 'Wow a real castle'.... over and over again. As it was on a Monday, as I was surprised to see the big number of tourists hence it explains the school holiday.

The castle belonged to William Kellie Smith was four-storeys high. There was a lift shaft to go up the castle and it was supposed to be the first lift built in Malaysia. However, it didn't materialise as William died in Lisbon Portugal before the castle could actually be finished. Even though, it was built in the early 20th century, 1901 I think, the castle still stands strong and you can actually see the nice plaster ceiling (which is blue in colour) to be rather unique.

There is a living room, reading room, tennis court on the courtyard of the first floor, the children's room, store room, the master bedroom overlooking the guardhouse, the wine cellar underground, the maids' room downstairs and the kitchen.

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They say this place is pretty myserious and I can actually feel the creepiness when we went roaming from room to room. The second floor is said to be rather 'keras' as it was said that on this floor that there have been sightings of the late William and her six year old daughter Helen wondering along the corridor.

The image of the castle still lingers in my mind and to those of you, who'll be visiting Perak, i'd reckon you check out the place.

Thank you teacher

Last Thursday the day of the SPM result being released, was a day full of emotions. They were happy faces, sad, dissatisfied and even shocked. On the whole, the girls did a wonderful job with many of them getting more number of A's. These girls were my babies when there were in Form 1 and 2 when we were in the afternoon session and more often than not when the become the senior girls they will be thanking their form 4 and 5 teachers and just bypassed us. We the lower form teachers are just used to this kind of scenario. It happens everytime during the PMR results too. They often thanked their form 3 teachers only.

So when these girls actually came to me and thanked me for teaching them when they were in Form 2, for scolding them and because of that they had been working hard and managed to get an A in the subject, I was touched. It almost sent tears to my eyes. It was just a simple gesture of thank but it meant a lot to me and it really made my day. It is nice to be appreciated. I believe other teachers out there share my view too.

Great Friends

Hey I'm back.
Sorry for the hiatus. Had problems with my laptop and my streamyx. Everything's back to normal now. Hope am able to blog often.
Ooooohhh... i really miss blogging. So many things to share but then again the stories are a bit to basi to share for now for example my son first day of school, hilman's first step and my funny and interesting lessons with my students (alright girls i'll try and blog about it soon, i hope).

Anyway back to the title...
I was supposed to be in kelate with the rest of the school staffs for a staff development and a field trip visiting other cluster schools there... okay let's start from the very beginning.

We my quorum and I were among the first of the school staffs to get to know that we're visiting kelantan under this cluster school budget. This was somewhere in January. We were pretty excited, so when it was officially said to the rest of the teachers, everybody began to book their tickets online. Since the principal gave green light to bring family along, i was relieved and eager to take hilman with me as he is fully breastfed. A good buddy of mine volunteered to book the tickets for us online.

She booked for five of us (the quorum) and as I was bringing Hilman along, she needed Hilman's BC number. As I didn't have the number with me and she needed it pronto, i seeked permission to get home to take his BC number. So all was settled, the tickets were booked and we were all set to go. This was done middle of January.

Comes February the talk of the kelantan trip has become on everybody's tip of the tongue by the end of February the conversation of the trip became more heaty as everyone started making plan of the things they would do and buy in kelantan e.g keropok lekor, roti canai instant, tudung and of course silk batik.

Around this time my third child Khairina caught chicken pox, 2 weeks later the disease attacked Dhaniyah. I was worried. Hilman was too young to get the shot and I prayed hard that he would not get it.

Anyway the thought of taking Hilman to kelantan is actually pretty overwhelming as I'll be handling him alone. I managed to get a babysitter for him in kelantan but i still have a lot in mind like bringing the strollers, my electric breast pump, bottled food as he is allergic to dairy product and the fact that him being under the care of a stranger as he is not a friendly baby, i worry that he'll cry uncontrollably.

Our flight was supposed to be on Saturday the 7th of March at 0730 and we'll be coming back on the 9th of March at 1400. That means i'll be leaving home at around 5 in the morning.

Too bad the thing that i worry most became reality.

Hilman had chicken pox and it was pretty bad. So i knew that i would not be able to go to kelantan and that thought saddens me as i would not be able to be with my friends. The doctor gave me 2 days mc and i took one day off as he had fever, very clingy and cried often. It was pretty tiring for me too as i didn't get enough sleep as he was uncomfortable and itching all over. So it was unfair to leave him in this kind of situation and it is unfair to the rest of the kids if i bring him along.

I knew i had no choice and that makes me feel more awful. The fact that i'll not be able to be with my friends and missing all the funnnnn!!! Not to mention that i miss the boat, on the trip to Bangkok end of last year as that time Hilman was too young to leave him behind and I didn't trust the maid.

So on Friday afternoon, i was really down.....as i knew everybody will be busy packing to take off on Saturday morning and i will not be able to join them. My friend told me that they will be thinking of me all the time (when the sleep, eat and poo, her exact words) when they're there. But I was still depressed. I made everyone knew I was miserable (especially hubby, of course). On monday morning after the subuh prayer i told Hilman while nursing him that 'We should be on our way to Kelantan by now dear'.

At around 730 am I received a call. Who would be calling me a this hour? Must be an emergency I thought to myself. It was from my great friend (the one that did the booking) that they missed me too much to get on the flight. I went like "HAH!" Biar betul u all ni! Turned out the tickets that we booked were for the 7th of February instead. They have arrived there at wee hours of the morning and was told such. "So how did you all react to that?" asked I. "We were just dumbfounded" Chris said. I can't picture the faces of other teachers who were supposed to be on the same flight with us. I really really had a good laugh of my life. Never had I laughed that loud on an early morning like that.

I considered myself fortunate, lucky and grateful. Imagine myself with the baby at that hour and being told that you can't get into the airplane because your tickets were on the 7th of February. Ha!ha! ha! Classic right?! I don't feel misrable now but I do feel sorry for them. Not sure how they're feeling right now but one actually had withdrawn RM1000 just to sapu the silk batik from Pasar Siti Khadijah.

What can I say? They just true friends to the core and a friend actually said that they're just out of this world kind of friends. I love them too very much to say the least. ahak ahak.