Yaumul Ihtifal

This year, Yaumul Ihtifal (awards day) for both al Irsyad Secondary school and al Hidayah Secondary school were held at locations other than their own campuses. Irsyad had theirs at KIPSAS hall while Hidayah had theirs at UTM. We attended both ceremonies. Yasmin got a few awards which include being the 1st in the class, public speaking contest winner, and choral speaking group winner. Harris got a consolation prize for public speaking.

The winner of the coral speaking group contest performed during the ceremony

These are the presents Yasmin and Harris brought home :)

Yaumul Ihtifal for al Hidayah was held at UTM on Sunday, 10 April 2011 and we stayed at the Scholars Inn on UTM campus. It was a two-room apartment, with a kitchen, air-conditioning, and even an astro on a flat-screen TV! The kids loved it especially Danial because he wanted to watch Mann U played that night. I could have enjoyed myself more but unfortunately I had to finish marking all the final exam papers for my students. Danial got 2 awards, one for good academic standing and the other for getting a second place in inter-school debate.

After the ceremony ended we went to his friend's house. He lives near UTM because his father is a lecturer in the Architecture department at the University. It was a good visit. It was on the way to his friend's house that I found out Danial performed in Dikir Barat! I was really disappointed for not realizing it because when the group came out, I was in the toilet with Najla and Hannah. Danial's friend's parents gave us a wonderful lunch. We left their house around 3 pm and reached home at 10 pm.

Danial and his good friend Huzaifah

Najla's craft

These are the pictures of "ice cream" Najla brought home recently. The ice cream looks so real that sometimes I am tempted to chomp on it!


A few weeks before she took home the "ice cream", she brought a "giraffe". The poor giraffe has no mouth so it can't eat. Najla must have forgotten to draw the mouth for it :)

Prof Kamil

Prof Kamil, an inspiration to many.

During the talk at IIUM on 6 May 2011

The first time I heard his name was when my friend lent me a book written by him titled "PhD Kecil Tapi Signifikan". I was not planning on doing my PhD (neither am I now) but for some small but significant reason, I started reading from lines to paragraphs to pages and before I knew it, I had finished the whole book! Then my friend suggested that I read his blog, which I did and still do until today. Then I heard him over the radio and occasionally watched him on TV. The style of his speech is very simple and down to earth. He always uses his own experiences as examples in his talks. Then I was told that he was coming to the mosque where I used to stay and of course I attended the session. Again, I attended his talk when he came for the second time. Since that night, I was determined to get to know him in person. Coincidentally, by that time I was already working at IIUM, so I told myself that I would invite him to my university. A few months after that I was contacted by Fatiyah who told me that Prof Kamil was coming to KPTM on three separate dates. I said to her, "You can count on me to be there", and I did on all three occasions because it was a good opportunity for me to approach him about coming to IIUM. Right after his session ended, I made sure that I stopped him on the way out of the mosque and I blurted the question, "Prof I am working at IIUM, would you come and give a talk if I invited you?" To my excitement he said, "Yes. Just write a short note to the Director of UiTM Johor (Segamat campus) to make things easier". I did, and the rest, as they say is history.

Some of the audience at IIUM session on 6 May 2011

Some of the KPTM students who were present at his April 19 Session

Having supper with Prof at KPTM Cafe on 29 March 2011 session

Four days ago I stopped by the entrance to IIUM to take the picture of the banner when Prof came to our university. Then, with the help of a very good officer from the IP department, I took the banner down and kept it with me. I will treasure the knowledge and experience he shared with us with the banner as a proof that he came to our campus!

Just after I finished writing this entry, I read his blog and there was the long awaited news of his early retirement from UiTM so that he can migrate to Taibah University in Medina. I wish you all the best in whatever you do Prof. Thank you so much for everything.

Finally

Alhamdulillah. Finally. Last March (31 st to be exact), we managed to move everything out of the old rented place into our new nest. I really hope that we do not have to go through such process anymore. The very first move we did as a married couple was when we moved from KL to Kuantan in 1994. At that time it was not so bad because we had not accumulated so much junk! Then we moved again in 1996 because the former landlord wanted to move into that house. We stayed at the newer place for about 13 years! Three of our kids were born in that house. Late in 2009 we were asked to move out by the second landlord because his son was supposed to occupy the house while doing his industrial training in Kuantan. Later, we found out that his son didn't want to stay there! Well, he owns the place. In April 2009 we moved again just a few houses down the street. At that time we decided to build our own house on a small piece of land which we bought in 2001. I guess that was the big plan from the Big Guy up above. If not because of that we would still be renting. We stayed in the temporary house for exactly 8 months and 17 days but we continued renting it for another 3 months after we moved to give us time to sort the things that we really wanted.

This was how the living room looked like when we left.

These were the junks that we recycled

This was how much we received from the recycled stuff (RM 32) :)

These were the little junks that we left in the house (with the permission of the landlord of course)

Baby chair

I am not sure about you guys but I am very sentimental when it comes to my kids' belongings especially when so many wonderful memories attached to them. For instance this baby chair shown in the picture below was bought for my first born. I don't remember where my husband and I bought it, maybe at Parkson in Kuantan. It is such a good chair (2 in 1) which can be used as a high-chair for eating or as a study table when you take the chair apart from the table. Some people might have thrown it away but we took it to our new house. Hopefully someday we'll send it to a furniture store to have it fixed.