Thursday, October 30, 2008

Looking Back (January – September 2008)

As soon as we got back I asked Steve to drive me to my master’s class at Vistana Hotel. The session started the day before. I missed the first day of my class. I was so disappointed when I found out that my class on that day was cancelled. What a waste to rush.

Hannah was supposed to attend school on the 2nd of January but since we arrived in Malaysia on 6 January 2008 she missed a few days of her classes. We sent her on Monday 7 January. None of our children cried on the first day or during the first week of their first year of school. But life is full of surprises. Hannah not only cried but she wailed for almost three weeks! Poor Yasmin! She was always called to calm Hannah down. I guess Hannah behaved that way because of the fact that she missed the first day of the class where students got a chance to introduce themselves to each other. She must have felt threatened or scared facing her new “friends” because everyone knew each other already except her! Must be a traumatizing experience for her. Alhamdulillah she’s enjoying school now.

Another birthday celebration began. It started with Hannah’s on Jan 13, then Najla’s (March 9), followed by Steve’s (10 March), then Danial’s on May 4, followed by Harris’ on July 13, then Yasmin’s on August 12. Only my birthday has not been celebrated yet. Once you hit 35 years old, the rest is not important anymore. It’s mind over matter, if you don’t mind it doesn’t matter…

Sometime in February, I don’t remember the exact date now, I wish I wrote it down that my eldest son told me that he was “baligh” already. Then we prayed together with him being the imam. Wow, my son is an adult. He has grown taller than me when he was 12 years old. My kids’ school had “yaumul ihtifal” (award giving ceremony) on Feb 16. Harris went to stay overnight at his friend Haniff’s house. He was supposed to come home Sunday night but he came back after “asar” because he fought with Haniff. I guess he overextended his welcome.

Yasmin went for “qiamulail” on Friday Feb 22. It was held at her school compound. In early April (1st -4th) I attended a work related training at KPTM KL. While in KL, Yasmin contacted me because she wanted to know what to do because she has her Big “P” on April 3rd. Wow, another child of mine has turned into an adult.

Irshad elementary school had its sports day on Sunday 6 April. It was held at KIPSAS soccer field. Since I had a class that day, I couldn’t stay the whole time with them. I just sent them to the field, stayed around half an hour and left for Vistana. I took a few pictures before I left. On 21 April a tragedy happened to Harris. He fell at Irshad surau and lost his permanent front tooth (top left)! I am going to write a separate entry on this tragedy.

Nothing much happened in May except for Danial’s birthday on May 4th and me attended the 7th Malaysia International Conference on English Language Teaching (MICELT) in Seremban.. I can’t recall anything special happening in June either. Sometimes I forgot to write down when interesting things happened. I am quite forgetful these days. Besides ageing, I think it’s also due to drinking or eating food which have been contaminated by ants! I hate those tiny creatures. I am sure God created them for a reason but they are being such nuisance to us. They even swamp our raw rice!

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