Mumsie in Wellington....

1. tapi tak leh nak enjoy sangat coz meeting dari pagi sampai petang...kedai tutup kul 5.00!!


2. tapi sempat enjoy minum kopi di cafe-cafe berdekatan





3. and sempat take walks dekat-dekat hotel. dah lama Mumsie tak jalan kaki ke mana-mana. Its nice to walk here. Angin kuat so temperature is cool


4. and discovering banyak nya restoran mesia kat sini! so far, i've seen about 8 of them tapi Mumsie tak masuk pun. Tak bestlah jalan jauh-jauh tapi makan kat restoren mesia kann...


5. tak shopping. cuma beli t-shirts for people back home and stephanie meyers' new moon for moi. barang-barang kat sini mahal! kasut paling bodoh pun about 99NZD. about RM200 lebih tu! tapi abah dapat laa dia punya ALL BLACK's ori shirt...


6. suka orang2 kat sini. Very friendly dan tersangat helpful. Service di mana-mana pun very good.


7. Malangnya airport kat Auckland macam hampessss!! kena check out bag...go through immigration and custom...then heret bag(s) to the domestic terminal and check in allllll over again untuk ke wellington! so, note to self: kalau kena datang lagi, go via sydney!


8. wishing i can see the beautiful part of NZ that people has been telling me about...tapi tak der chan la nampaknya kali ni. tak sempat!! yang sempat cuma ini...

The Kiasu-ness of Malaysian Parenting

Kak Long is in year 6. In Malaysia that means UPSR. Apparently it is potentially a life altering event. It can be the beginning of it all...the first step for these kids towards real life...KakLong being my eldest, Mumsie didn't realize all this. Until last Saturday. I attended a briefing by her teachers where they gave the parents loonggggg explanation about the importance of UPSR and their work plan for the year to ensure they remain one of the best primary schools n Putrajaya. First, i never knew the school is one of the best in Putrajaya. Maybe the standard in Putrajaya is not that high, no? I'm just wondering coz out of 30 something student they had last year, only 6 kids got 5As. I don't think that amounts to much, if you ask me.


Tapi Mumsie tak kisah sebenarnya. Sebab tu i still send my kids to that school. I suppose i lebih pentingkan keselesaan and the convenience. The children are happy there, they tell me and its minutes away from home and my office.


And i like to pride myself in being a cool kinda Mum. I tak kisah sangat pasal their tests/exams results. Of course, i would feel proud when they do well and blog about it in here. But thats about it. I don't "harass" them about studying and scoring straight As. And Mumsie bukanlah jenis Mummy yang spend free time comparing markah anak dengan anak orang lain. Come to think of it, i don't know any of Kak Long's classmates' parents! So, i don't care how their children are doing in school!

I almost always simply tell my girls that i just want them to "berusaha". I keep telling them, if they show/prove to me that they've done their best, then Mumsie is happy with whatever grades they get. But of course, so far i don't think that their "usaha" is good enough. They spend wayyy wayyyyyyy to much time depan TV. I dah larang...dah marah but still diorang tak faham concept of studying for the exams. Pada diorang, as long as homework siap cukuplah! So, Mumsie memang tak expect much from my kids.

And one part of me wants them to enjoy their childhood. I don't want them to spend their childhood keluar masuk classroom and tuition centres aje sampai tak sempat nak smell the air..enjoy the sun, etc. Hence keadaan academic Kak Long today, i suppose. i am to be blamed. She's definitely not a straight A student. In fact, cikgu cikgu cakap she's too playful in school and she needs a change in attitude!

So, back to the cerita asal of this entry. The talk given by the school is a wake up call for Mumsie. I cannot take it easy anymore, especially where Kak Long is concerned. No..its not that i want to put pressure on her. But i want her to work hard. I want her to realize she has a responsibility. And i realize that i have to force her to work hard. hence, i succumbed to the calling of tuition teachers. I found out that her teachers are offering private tuitions in the comfort of our homes so i started signing up Kak Long.

Oh! Ada cerita. The BM teacher suggested i approach one of the mums (lets call her Mum A) and ask whether Kak Long can join the group of that woman's daughter. they live on my street and cikgu tu kata right now cuma ada 2 girls in that group he's tutoring. So, i did. Mum A said she'll have to ask the other girl's mum. She did and sms'd me that its OK for K.Long to join their daughters. Then, a couple of days later, Kak Long came home saying that the teacher asked her to join another group coz Mum A's house is too sempit! i remember thinking huh? rumah semi-D pun sempit? banyak sangat ker furniture diorang? I called back Mum A. Konon nak offer buat tuition tu kat rumah i ajelah kalau rumah dia sempit. After a few aaaa...aaa...aaaa...she finally confessed she and the other mum has decided that two's company, three's a crowd!! she stammered something also anak dia really lemah in BM. which i translated as: my anak so bodoh and i'm damn selfish! can? but after i've calmed myself, i really wish them well. ye lah...kita mestilah nak jaga kepentingan anak kita sendiri kan?! whatever laaaa...

tapi Mumsie got my happy ending. I guilt trip the teacher (it was his idea kan to get Kak Long to try join Mum A's exclusive tuition) into coming to MY house and give lessons only to MY children on Saturday mornings! yeay!

Anyway, I told kak Long, here's the deal: Mumsie and Abah work hard so that we can afford alll those tuition classes...her teachers work hard to provide her with all those extra classes and SHE needs to work hard by paying attention and practice answering questions and jangan tinggal sembahyang. I hope she understands and appreciates.

Allll about Mumsie

Initially...i don't get this tagging tagging business...tapi lama kelamaan (chewah)..setelah Mumsie main lompat lompat melawat blog orang dengan kepohnya, Mumsie faham that tagging tagging ni adalah cara terkini untuk berkenalan...so, since I pun dah mula dikenali ramai (chewah chewah!!), i've been tagged a couple of times, latest by Zetty and prior to that by Superwoman and before that i think was by Azian, MrsGoodthings. So this posting is to honour those ladies and bare my soul to the blogging world. Mumsie tak segan sangat coz in the blog world, despite my perasan-ness and chewah chewah tu, sebenarnya tak ramai yang baca Mumsie's Travels. So, here goes:

Directions: Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog/Facebook note with 16 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end choose 16 people to be tagged, listing their names and why you chose them. Don’t forget to leave them a comment or tag them in your note to read this.

1. Mumsie suka minum kopi - preferably "renverse" yang ada kat geneva tapi sebab dah berpijak di bumi nyata takkan ke geneva lagi, nescafe tarik is good enough. Old Town White Coffee pun boleh and iced coffee Delicious is also appreciated.

2. Mumsie suka tengok TV dan wayang. Its how i spend quality time with my girlsand its how i spend quality time by myself.

3. Mumsie suka bawak kereta. Preferably Beemer tua Abah.

4. Mumsie suka amik gambar. I recently bought a NIKON D60 and am soooooo loving it! I just wished that I had bought it way back when we were living in Geneva.

5. Bila ada mood, Mumsie suka masak and bake. Last weekend I made roti jala! Woohoooo!

6. Mumsie suka baca buku....preferably mindless chick lit ones...yang baca tapi tak payah pikir-pikir. Am in the midst of reading Twilight.

7. Mumsie tengah pikir nak tukar kerja but at the same time sedar diri that i'm too old for that kind of change. I do love my job and the places it takes me to but as you can probably guess from my past entries...am not so excited about the place and the people i work for.

8. Mumsie ni tengah sangat berusaha untuk kuruskan badan tapi hampeh! Meja kat ofis dah macam pantri...ada kettle..ada toaster...so how to kurus? Pasrah ajelah Baahhhhh....

(laaaa...baru nombor 8 ker??)

9. Mumsie ni kepoh-chi. Tapi i don't like crowds. Maybe its the age factor. I dah tak suka nak beramai ramai. I prefer to be amongst a small group of people...people who can keep me company, if you know what i mean.

10. Because i don't like crowds, Mumsie tak suka shopping masa sale. Tak bermakna Mumsie tak suka sale items. So, either Mumsie tak shopping or I take leave and go shopping when other people go to work.

11. Cakap pasal shopping, Mumsie paling tak pandai bargain! Rugi kalau bawak Mumsie pegi tempat macam Pasar Payang ker...tapi to cover...Mumsie katalah i nak tolong orang Melayu..so, tak yahlah bargain beria-ia..kasi chan diorang dapat untung lebih sikit....

12. Berbalik pasal me not liking crowds, maknanya Mumsie juga tak pernah pergi watch Merdeka parades or free concerts yang kena berebut2 tempat duduk. Pernah sekali pergi Karnival Jom Heboh kat Kuantan for the sake of the children.

13. Mumsie ni pemalas orangnya. I always say I'm allergic to exercise. so, kalau pergi Zoo or tempat2 yang sewaktu dengannya, i akan jalan2 sikit then wait for the kids and Abah at some bangku somewhere. Maybe sebab ni jugaklah Mumsie tak kurus kurus!

14. Mumsie suka menari tapi tak pandai. Kecik-kecik dulu pernah berangan nak jadi penari tarian tradisional tapi tak kesampaian sebab tak lembut enough.

15. Mumsie gets along really well with people younger than me. I suppose i need to make sure i feel young allllll the time.

16. Finally.....Mumsie suka baca gossip. Tapi cannot stand writings about Norman and Memey, Mawi and Ekin, Datuk CT Nurhaliza and Datuk K and Fasha Sandha. So, Mumsie tengok E! Channel jerla kat ASTRO since i can no longer afford to buy HELLO!


dah! cukup 16! Now I tag...Ina, Teeny, lawyerlyscrewed...alamak sapa lagi? Orang lain seme dah buat tag ni...how? will i be cursed for breaking this chain??????

Boycotting the Israelis...

I'm sure ramai dah very aware of what the Israelis are up to of late. Bak kata Kak Ezza, we must do what we can to help the Palestinians. Hope you've read the plea from Mercy, asking for cash donations so that they can buy medical stuff. Kalau belum and you want to donate - go to http://bangkai.wordpress.com/. Mr B has the details.


Mumsie is also trying to begin by boycotting companies and products that helps the Israelis. if you want to get started about this - go to http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/298.
Plenty of believable information there.

Meh...meh kita ramai-ramai do what we can!

Sambung cerita semalam

I spoke too soon! Pagi tadi Sarah couldn't get up and started crying! aisehhh! tapi Abah settlekan and she was OK by the time they left the house. phewww! the thing with Sarah is, dia tak pegi sekolah ugama in the afternoon...so, her routine lepas balik sekolah is lunch, homework, TV and eventually fall asleep!! So, bila tiba malam dia susah nak tidur...and bila tiba pagi dia susah nak bangunlah! and so it goes! quite the difficult to solve this problem. Tips, anyone?

This and that

Mumsie is in trouble. I am at the office and I am bored. Can't seem to concentrate on work...at all. Can't seem to DO any work...AT ALL! Been spending A LOT of time blog hopping. Seronok gak baca kisah mak-mak yang dah start sibuk semula since school has resumed.


Mumsie pun happy gak sekolah dah start. And Alhamdulillah this first 3 days has been eezy peezy! We have Ika the maid who has taken over the job of waking the girls up and make sure they are dressed and fed before pergi sekolah. Mumsie cuma tengok-tengokkan and betul-betulkan rambut diorang je! Best! walaupun terlintas jugak kat kepala ni nak potong jer rambut mereka tu seme!


Pagi tadi Mumsie saksikan satu adengan yang amat mengharukan hati Mumsie. Sarah was getting dressed for school alllllll by herself!! And I teringat the last 3 years, particularly last year!
I realised...since Monday Sarah has not thrown any tantrums...not cried ...and not insist on Abah dressing her up!! Anak Mumsie dah besar!! aaawwwww....


eh! punch machine dah bunyik! i promised Kak Ngah I'll pick her up from sekolah agama. nanti sambung K

Selamat Tahun Baru

Yes..a very Happy New Year Mumsie ucapkan to all friends and loved ones. Time flies, huh?! When you're having fun and even when you're not! As you can see...Mumsie is starting to make changes...first via this blog. How do you like the new layout? Biasa je la, kan tapi cooler than before, i thought.

So, nak reflect on what happened in 2008? tak payahlaaaa...orang kata yang lepas jangan di kenang...must admit that it was not a particularly exciting year for Mumsie. Hence, my reluctance to revisit 2008, i suppose.

So, nak express hope for 2009? Pun Mumsie rasa tak payahlaaaa...que sera sera...what will be, will be...kita just terus berusaha dan berdoa. I was reading MrsN's blog this morning and for a moment i thought she was writing about me! talk about perasan in the maximum degree lah! mrsN doesn't even know i exist! hehehe...the point is...i could totally relate to what she was writing about...her fears and aspirations for the year to come for her and her family. I pun macam tu so i think i'll just tiru her new year resolutions lah. You think she'd mind?

I'm not exactly sure why but i'm feeling melancholic here...must be the dim sum i had for lunch just now (huh??!!). Oklah...i leave this posting with pixes of a gathering which took place in Putrajaya on New Year's eve....there were good food...

and excellent company...

It was also a birthday celebration for december born babies...

Fine...here's wishing a healthy and happy 2009 for alllllllll of us....