Special Day

There is one special date which occurs every year since 2001 and today is one of them, 111111. I heard many couples plan to tie the knot today and some pregnant ladies have even made appointments to have Caesarian section! What a crazy world we live in. As a practicing Muslim I do not believe in any day or date to be special because each moment is special for as long as God allows me to breathe the air and live a healthy life. This morning was special because we had to get up at 4.30 to send Harris to his school. He needed to be there by 5.00 am in order to join a leadership camp trip to Kelantan. I guess by now he has already arrived at wherever that camp is supposed to be held. The schedule for the camp is quite packed and I really hope that he will learn something that will benefit him for a long time to come.Yesterday was special because I took Najla, Hannah, Yasmin, and Balqis to IIUM swimming pool. Yasmin learned how to swim when she was 4 years old and she could still float and perform some breast strokes. She told me that she has forgotten other styles. Hannah was excited because she managed to float after being taught by a few ladies who were there in the pool. Najla had a hard time learning but if we go often enough she might be able to do it soon. She has been bugging me to send her to a swimming class. I talked to the life guard and was told that her class will only start in March next year. I think Najla swallowed a lot of water from the pool because she had stomach upset at 2am. She woke up crying and said she needed to vomit. After several attempts, nothing happened. Luckily she felt better half an hour later. There are 2 things that she really would like to learn: swimming and riding a bicycle. Well she shouldn't feel so bad because I learned how to ride a bike at the age of 24 and only knew how to swim in my 40s :)

Danial came home for Eid Adha celebration last Friday (Nov. 4) and stayed until Wednesday. As usual we celebrated our Eid in my mom's village. It was a nice family-get-together time. All the other kids were at school on Wednesday and Steve was at work. Since I was on leave, I managed to bake 2 batches of my wonderful chocolate chip cookies. I was so engrossed baking that Danial almost missed his bus! Alhamdulillah we got to the bus station just in time.

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

Fruit Season Again

Salam, hello, hi,

Here I am sitting in my quiet office enjoying a bunch of "rambutan" and some "dokong" fruits. We took a lot from my mom's village yesterday. Normally my family and I would go back to see my mom once a month but since the fruit season started we have been going for almost every week! I feel kind of bad because it seems that eating her fruits is more important than seeing her. But then again, she would insist that we do just that. I think this past weekend would be the last time we go back until sometime before "Eid" which will be around the 11th of September. Anyway, the "durians" are almost gone but "rambutans" are a lot more on the trees. I think the "dokong" will be gone soon too. I forgot to check whether the "mata kucing" were still intact. I am not surprise if the bats have clobbered them all. Wild boars have been having some feasts over durians as well.

Lately, I have been neglecting my blogs as well as my emails and FB. I have a lot to do for my classes. I prefer teaching EOP to EAP because I can actually relate my past experiences as an administrator to my EOP class. But it's a good learning experience for me.

My kids are growing fast and soon Harris will be as tall or taller than me. He hasn't been back home every time we went because he was busy with school activities. He will be sitting for his UPSR soon. I hope he'll do just as well as Danial and Yasmin. I wonder if the Government is really going to abolish UPSR some day. Well, it doesn't make that much difference to me because none of my kids will go to boarding schools at the age of 13! They are still too young to be separated from us. Once they leave the house they will be gone! I want to keep them for as long as I can. Also, with or without UPSR, Malaysians will still be crazy about exams, grades, and tuition classes!

Danial has entered 2 debate tournaments and a spelling bee contest since the last time I wrote an entry to this blog. Yasmin has entered a corral speaking and public speaking contest in Terengganu. I am quite envious of my children because they are so active in school. Hannah has not participated in major events yet but maybe she's a late bloomer. She loves to draw and she is still going to the piano lesson regularly. I am curious how Najla will turn up once she goes to elementary school. Speaking of school, she is no longer in kinder garden but she re-joined her nursery where she doesn't have to learn anything in a formal way. She said she was bored with the kinder garden because she knew most of the activities they asked the kids to do. We are not too worried because she can read and write in both English and Malay. Lately, she said she will go back to the kinder garden after "Eid" so that she will be qualified to walk on the stage to get her kinder garden certificate at the end of the year.

We are all excited about our new house. We just saw it this morning. I think it's 80 percent ready. I was told that it could be finished by October. We really hope to be able to move in by November or December. That will be the perfect time because the kids will have their school holidays. Hopefully they will help packing and unpacking the stuff. Argh ... I hate thinking about moving, again! The aches and pains from our recent moving are still very much alive in our muscles and veins. But we hope, this time around it will be different because we are finally moving into our own home!

School Holiday Activities

I pray that Yasmin will win in the public speaking competition in Terengganu today. She also participates in the choral speaking contest. She left very early this morning, probably around 5am with a group of students. They stayed overnight at their school to make sure that they left on time. I hope Yasmin won't have any trouble without her name tag and her IC. She did send an SMS to Steve late last night but neither of us heard it because we were so tired and were sleeping like logs. While Yasmin was at her school practicing last night, the rest of us went to the theater watching The Karate Kid. The movie ended slightly after midnight and by the time we reached home it was 12.30am. When Steve finally saw the message and called her this morning, she was already on her way.

Last Saturday she participated in the spelling contest at M.S. Garden hotel which was organized by MELTA. There were 18 groups from schools around Kuantan. Hers was one of the four groups which was qualified for the final round and they got the fourth place. They were given the opportunity to choose either scientific or technological terms. In the first round all 4 groups chose technology but during the second one, Yasmin's group changed to scientific terms. I believe they could have won if they chose scientific terms from the beginning. Well, winning is good but it's not everything because the most important thing is their participation.

Before we dropped Yasmin off at her school last night, we stopped by our friend Zul's house to pick Danial from his camp. He joined a 3-day youth camp which I believe was also held somewhere in Terengganu. Steve sent him to Zul's house at 6am on Monday (14 June). I am not sure who drove Danial and his friends but they had to meet at that house. That was the second of a 6-part motivation-cum-character building camp. I certainly hope that that all my kids will be highly motivated adults with superb personality. Who wouldn't?

Irsyad's Sports Day

Never in the history of Irsyad School having its annual sports day at the Kuantan football stadium. When I was told that this year's event was going to be held on Saturday (April 3rd) at the stadium I was ecstatic. It was a grand event for my kids Harris and Hannah who are still in the elementary school there. I don't know about other parents but to me and my husband, our kids' activities are very important and significant. No matter how busy we think we are they must be celebrated and enjoyed so that the kids feel that they are being appreciated.

Coincidentally on the same day our new Big Boss was scheduled to come and visit our campus in conjunction with the entrepreneurship day function. I went to see my boss to get an excuse not to attend because I wanted to go to my kids' sports day. As expected, the answer was no, and I was very disappointed. Since I am leaving this College real soon, I could have just ignored my boss' request. However, being a good employee as I am (though not many appreciate that!) I still attended the function but my heart was at the stadium. Everbody in my family was there except for Danial. I kept on looking at my watch and finally when the function was stopped for a break, I took off and joined my family. I missed all the games etc but I managed to watch the end of the award giving ceremony. Thank God Yasmin took some pictures.

Anyway, when it was over I went back to my College and continue attending the afternoon session which finally ended at 5 pm. It was a win-win situation because both family and career are important (though not equally important). That reminds me of the speech by Bryan Dyson, the former Coca-cola CEO who said that life is like a game in which we are juggling five balls in the air namely work, family, health, friends, and spirit. He said work is like a rubber ball because when you drop it, it will bounce back. However, the other four balls are made of glass. If we drop one or all of them they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. Therefore, I do not feel too bad for leaving the function momentarily becausel it was a Saturday and we were not given any unrecorded leave or anything like that. Even if we were I was already decided to forfeit my share. Such an angel I am :)

Just look at their faces, how could I not want to celebrate together?

Trip to Petrosains

Yasmin and Harris went on a trip to "Petrosains" in KL on Saturday 7 November. That was the weekend after they finished their final exams. I wonder why Danial didn't go. Anyway, they left the school around 6:15am so our whole family had to get at 5am to get ready and send them to school. I realized that most of our time is used to ferry our kids around or to care for all their needs. It makes me understand more of what my parents have gone through. Understanding comes with appreciation...

Harris and friends

Lining up to get on the bus

Parents sending off their loved ones

Yaumul Ihtifal

Our family was really busy last weekend because we had 2 "yaumul ihtifal" ceremonies (award giving ceremony) - one was for Najla's kindergarden and the other was for Harris' and Hannah's school. Najla's was on Saturday morning (21 Nov 09) and Harris' and Hannah's was on Sunday morning. It was raining hard on both days and we were soaking wet when we arrived at both places. Najla participated in 2 performances. She was dressed like a tree in the first one, and singing a "nasyid" song with a group in the second performance.Since she is not 6 years old yet, she will continue studying at the same kindergarden next year. I know she is very disappointed because she really wants to go to her brothers' and sisters' school as a first grader (standard one). We had trouble persuading her not to enrol because the school gives priority to those who are 7 years old.

On Sunday, Hannah received an award for one of the most promising students (whatever that means) and Harris got an award for getting the 3rd place in his class. Harris performed in a sketch and sang a "nasyid" song with his friends. Alhamdulillah, he will be promoted to the "best" class next year. I hope he will do well and get all A's in his UPSR. Hannah on the other hand, will go to "second" class. Well, it doesn't make that much difference because Hannah did well in most of her subjects by getting high A's. But, so many other students did better than her. Since the ceremony was for the elementary school children, Yasmin and Danial decided not to go. They both stayed home and did what they do best - playing with the computer!

Champions!

Yasmin's trophy

Danial's trophy

Yasmin was so nervous a few days before she entered the Quranic reading competition. Danial didn’t seem so. Even if he did, he covered his feelings pretty well. When the day came, Yasmin hugged me and said, “please pray for me that I will be asked easy questions and surahs”. It was on Tuesday 15 September, which was a working day therefore I couldn’t attend the ceremony. I guess they must have had easy questions because both of them came home with a trophy each. They both got first prize for their category. I am very happy for them.

My “Jewels”

Danial:

My eldest just finished his trial PMR. I hardly saw him studying or reviewing his studies at home. Every time I asked him whether he was ready, his reply was “Insya Allah”, We’ll see when the results are out… I just bought him 3 or 4 novels recently and he finished reading them in a flash. Right now I think he’s rereading the newly acquired novels or sometimes he reread his old (or very old) ones. I don’t know what to do. I wish there are people who live around here with tons of novels which he likes so we can swap books. At the rate we are buying, we will have trouble storing them soon. Selling them as used books? Out of the question because he wants to keep them all! He still goes to a guitar lesson every Friday afternoon but I have never heard him play guitar at home. He keeps playing piano whenever his mood strikes. He goes to the “surau” most of the time when his father goes there for Magrib or Isyak prayers. He does his chores without grumbling (turning dry laundry right-side-out, washing dishes, and sometimes throwing trash out). He had attended a 2-day camp (Saturday-Sunday: 12 & 13 Sept 09) near Pantai Sepat. It was for form three students who will be sitting for their PMR in October

Yasmin's Certificate

Yasmin:

I just convinced her to open her own blog (http://yasmin128.blogspot.com) last week because she loves to scribble. She picked up reading much later than Danial, I think when she was in standard 4. She used to just sit in front of the TV every time she got a chance. I used to get upset with her about her TV habit. She loves to draw and we enrolled her in the art class at Da Vinci. She’s very good at drawing Japanese cartoon characters. It must be from watching those shows on TV! We sent her to piano lessons for 2 years but I never heard her playing after she stopped attending the classes. She wants to learn how to play a violin but I am skeptical to send her. Besides I don’t know where to send her for that around here. She loves to eat cereal and milk that’s why she has strong and beautiful teeth. I used to “fight” with her a lot. Almost everyday I had something to complain about her. I think because our characters are so much alike that we repel each other. Recently we have become better friends. She does her chores too (turning dry laundry right-side-out and washing dishes) but sometimes with grumbles. Last Thursday we had “iftar” at her school. Before the breaking of fast we attended a simple ceremony in which the school gave certificates to students who performed well in their UPSR last year. Yasmin was one of the recipients. Actually the gifts were from Yayasan Pahang but delivered to students by the school. Each of them received a certificate and RM100, so Yasmin can buy her own “baju raya” :)

Harris at the dentist

Harris:

Last Wednesday was a very memorable day because the date was 09-09-09 (9 Sept. 2009) and at 09 am Harris had an appointment to see a dentist at HTAA. We arrived 15 minutes late because I had trouble finding a parking space. We ended up parking at the housing area behind the hospital. It was quite far so we had to walk really fast. Poor Harris, he was fasting too. Finally at 9.40am the process began. Harris’ pain threshold is very low so he was groaning and screaming most of the time. It was hard for me to watch him in pain and not being able to do anything. It was over at 11.30am. I am very pleased with Harris’ changed in attitude towards reading. He used not to like it as much as Danial and Yasmin because he was always playing the computer games or watching cartoons. He did read bionicles books but not other novels. Since we bought Alex Rider series, he really sits down and read! I never thought the time would come so soon, but I am happy. His temper has improved some too. He used to be upset a lot more and screamed at us all the time. Now he is more “patient”. He’s doing better in school too. Wow, Harris is growing up! He lost a tooth on Tuesday night. On Saturday (12 Sept. 09) Harris performed in a sketch at his school during the “musabaqah” competition. He played as Abu Lahab or Abu Jahal. He likes performing arts.

Hannah:

She lost 2 teeth- 1 Wednesday (9 Sept.09) and 1 the day before at about the same time Harris lost his. Of all the kids, she’s the most sensitive, cries a lot and sulks so easily. Sometimes she drives all of us nuts. She can really stay up late but she can’t get up in the morning. We have to drag her out of bed or sprinkle water on her face. She loves to draw so much and she’s also enrolled at Da Vinci art class. She’s taking a piano lesson with me but she hardly practices her piano at home. She would rather draw greeting cards for us. She likes to read also but not at the same level as Danial or Yasmin yet. She’s so afraid of any creepy crawlies, and she definitely got that from me! She would really love to learn how to swim but we have to wait until MPK pool is fully renovated. So far she hasn’t broken any of her fasts yet. She is so flexible that she can lie on her tummy, arch her back, and touch her chin with her toes! She should enroll in a ballet or gymnastic class. But nay… they wear skimpy clothes. Best of all, Hannah is a very loving daughter.

Najla:

How could I be upset when I found out that I was pregnant with her? Since Najla is the youngest, she’s the most adorable and very smart. There were so many instances that she would say something that would catch me by surprise. She is a very confident person probably because she gets hug a lot. So she feels very secure about herself. She’s adorable when in good mood but terrible when she throws one of her stunts. On Saturday she was really mad because I didn’t take her to the store to buy her “baju raya”. Just like any kids, we can’t afford to make any promises unless we are so sure that we can fulfill them. She loves to draw pictures and she folds the papers, and gives them to us as greeting cards. She just enrolled in Da Vinci class last month (or was it in July, I don’t remember). She loves to read as well. She has been nagging me to register her at her brothers' and sisters' school. Last week I went to the school to get the registration form. I was told that the school’s priority is to accept 7 year-olds. Since Najla will only be 6 years old next year, she will be on a waiting list. I hope Najla won’t be so upset.

Report Card Day

It’s that time of the year again! Report card signing day for all our kids at Al Irsyad school. Since Steve’s students are on their summer vacation, he was able to take that day off. We went to see our kids’ report cards at lunch time so I didn’t have to worry about getting special permission from my boss to go out of campus. First we went to see Hannah’s. Her performance really went down from the previous term. She is not too serious about her studies lately. We are not too serious about pushing our kids studying either. I think she got the fourth place from the last in her class. Steve always said “let them play and enjoy being kids”. The most important thing is to get them interested in learning through reading, not necessarily stuff related to their school. I guess we have succeeded doing that because our kids love reading (other than their school books that is). We spend a lot on buying novels through Scholastic Book Club. In fact we are waiting for the new shipment to arrive in a few weeks.
Then we went to see Harris’ classroom teacher to get his report card. He performed much better than Hannah. He has changed a lot from last year. He is more disciplined according to his teacher.

Yasmin got the first place in form one. I thought she would get 2^nd or 3^rd because I hardly saw her doing homework or reading school books. She prefers reading novels, drawing cartoons, or writing something in my notebook, but never let me see her masterpiece! Currently she’s rereading the Twilight novel (again!). Danial got 2^nd place. He’s the same as Yasmin. He keeps on rereading all the novels he has read until we get him new ones. But then, as soon as we bought him new books, he would finish reading them in a flash! If we keep the pace we are buying books now, we will have to build a huge library someday. Najla is still asking whether she could enter regular school next year. She’s supposed to start schooling in 2011. She wants to be with her brothers and sisters at Al Irsyad. One of the teachers informed Steve that Najla could join the 1^st grade next year but she would not be able to take “UPSR” at the age of 11. That means, she has to be in grade 6 or two years because the state of Pahang doesn’t allow skipping grades anymore. We have to really think about it before we make our decision. Well, there isn’t a need to rush her.

Harris is Back, Danial and Yasmin are Gone

Last Thursday, Steve jumped out of bed when the cell phone screamed at 1.47 am! It was Harris’ teacher calling to let us know that the bus which took Harris and his friends to Pendang Lake Resort in Kedah had arrived. The teacher had called earlier and informed Steve that the bus would arrive between 2 and 3 am. Anyway, we were glad that he came back all in one piece and of course with a new rank of Sergeant. Congratulations Harris.

On Wednesday night (the night before Harris came home), Steve, Hannah, Najla and I went to Kuantan bus terminal to send Danial and Yasmin off to Perak for their youth cadet camp. They will come home Monday night (8 June).

The kids loading their bags into the luggage compartment

While waiting for the bus to arrive from Terengganu

At the parking lot near Kuantan bus terminal

Danial posing at home before we drove him to the bus terminal

Poor Najla is left behind... sob, sob, sob