Haikal’s first day of orientation

Aaahhh... the memory of sending my first-born to his first day of pre-school in December 2006.

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(Note: This was supposed to be posted on 27 Dec, but due to the earthquake in Taiwan, the internet could not be accessed)
Yesterday, Haikal (… and I) went to his first day of orientation at his pre-school. I enrolled him into Al-Ikhlas Cambridge Kids. Childhood education is very expensive nowadays, let me tell you that. But, I feel the curriculum provided in this pre-school is good and I guess you just have to pay the price of a good education.

No, I’m not the kiasu type of parents who would send their children to all sorts of schools from the time they start to breathe. I’ve heard about parents who send their kid to a music school when the child is only a few months old so that he’ll be musically-inclined. Gimme a break! Or, rather, give the child a break.

I feel children nowadays are likely to be stressed out at a younger and younger age because of their parents. I pity these children as they are not able to live life as kids anymore. I realize the world is becoming more and more competitive but the children should not suffer because of it. I mean, is it really necessary for children to go to tuition classes when they are just in Standard One? Please, let them play, for goodness sake!

So, why am I sending Haikal to pre-school at the young age of 4? I didn’t want to actually. But, I guess kids do grow up faster now. He really wants to go to school and I could see that he is ready. So, we looked for a pre-school. And, unlike most parents who race to CEC, or Smart Reader and the like, I looked for a pre-school that concentrates on teaching children about the Islamic religion and reciting the Quran. InsyaAllah, by the end of his pre-school at the age of 6, he would have finished reciting the Quran and hopefully memorise a few Surahs of the Quran.

Anyway, getting back to the original story, I had no problem getting Haikal ready in the morning. He was excited but I could feel he was apprehensive as well. When we got to the pre-school, he just wouldn’t let go of me. So, I stayed on for the 3 hours of orientation. He is still very young after all. Being his shy self, he wouldn’t participate in any of the activities unless I participated along. So, there I was singing and dancing together with the rest of the kids and teachers, just so he wouldn’t feel left out.

On the way back home I asked him whether he liked his school and he eagerly nodded. So, I told him that the next day he would be on his own, but he responded, “Takkk… Mama pegi school dengan Haikal.” Sigh!

Anyway, today, he is on his own. I hope he’s fine. And, I hope he likes his school enough for him to stay on. My baby is growing up to be a big boy already! Sniff…

Day 2 update: Haikal was fine being left on his own. And, he wants to go back!

Wakarimasen!

This was a post in December 2006 of my first duty travel away from base.  Of course this needs to make it her :).

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First thing’s first. I’m sorry to disappoint those who know me that I have NOT become a sushi-lover. And, it’s also safe to say that I’ve had more than enough sushi to last me a whole lifetime.

But, you may be greatly surprised to know that, a picky eater that I am, I actually ate eel, while knowing very well it was eel (a cooked one, though, mind you). Yeah, my hunger just overcame all other logics left in my brain.

Anyway, Tokyo was a lovely city, expensive as it was. The people are just so polite that you feel you also have to bow down to them whenever they bow at you. Yeah, it’s like in the movies.

But, let me start from the very beginning.

Leaving my babies to go on duty travel in another country was the hardest thing that I had ever had to do in my whole entire life! By the time I arrived at the check-in counter, I was such a mess that people would have thought I was leaving the country for months, or even years. Little that they knew, I was only going for 3 days.

I took the night flight out. So, I thought I would be able to sleep during the whole 6-hours journey. But, I was wallowing so much in self-pity that even the retrofitted cabin with the reclining seats couldn’t make me sleep a wink during the whole flight. Furthermore, I was sitting in the middle of two men, who had no problems sleeping AND were snoring quite loudly for me to hear despite the noise of the engines.

From Narita Airport, my boss and I took the bus to Tokyo city which was about an hour’s drive. I wanted to savour all the moment while being in Tokyo and see everything that I could, but my sleepiness got the better of me. I was dozing off a few times while I was in the bus.

Once we arrived at the city, whatever self-pity that I had left was completely forgotten. We left our bags at the hotel and did the tourist thing. We took pictures of all possible things that we felt we couldn’t find in Malaysia.

While we were searching for food, we discovered that Japan, as a country, and Japanese, in general, are, in a way, very “unfriendly” to those who do not speak nor understand their language. Most of the signs and all their menus are written in the Japanese characters without any English translation. And, the following is a typical situation that I encountered when I wanted to pay for things that I bought:

Cashier: (In Japanese) Something, something, something… x 10
Me: (Staring blankly at the cashier while waiting for her to stop talking) Hai! (Whatever you say, lady)…
Cashier: (Punching some numbers on a calculator and showing the figures to me)
Me: (Paid whatever amount that was punched on the calculator)
Cashier: (Took the money and gave receipt)
Me: Arigato gozaimasu (yeay, I was finally able to say something!)
Cashier: Something, something... x 2 (most probably “You’re welcome” in Japanese)

Even when we asked for directions for certain places, they were speaking in Japanese when they could clearly see we could not understand whatever it was they were saying. I mean, it’s great that they take great pride in their language and country, but they could take some initiatives to learn English since the rest of the world speaks it. It’s as if they are saying “If you are coming into my country, you must bloody well speak and understand our language, or else, tough!”

But, hey, we managed. Some other things I observed while I was there:

• A sentence in English is 10 times longer when you translate it into Japanese (ok, I might be exaggerating, but it felt that way).
• Taxi drivers are very polite. They don’t weave in and out of the roads and try to run down everyone who is in their way.
• All drivers actually give way to pedestrians to cross the roads.
• Public transportations are super efficient.
• Japanese ladies luuuuurrrrvvvveee boots – you can see all types of boots worn by these ladies.
• Toilets are clean and dry – and they even have a mechanism to keep the toilet seats warm, which is just fantastic!

Hmm… can’t really think of anything else as of now.

Bismillah... Reactivated

I would like to start off clean, thus I have reverted all my previous posts to "Draft".

Those I feel worth to be posted shall find their way back.

Stay tuned while it is being reconstructed.

:)