Goodbye Year 3

Time flies... time really flies! 

Today - 20.10.2011 - is the last day of year end exam, hurray! 

Don't get me wrong. I was not the one having examinations. It was my daughter. 

Nowadays, which parents who do not participate in their child's examination... to certain extend, it was like we were the one going for the examinations.  Sigh...  

My daughter was in international schools since she was 5 because we stayed overseas then. When she was 9, we came back to Malaysia. 

At the age of 9, she entered local Chinese school for the first time. I still recalled, that day - 3.1.2011  was a horrified day indeed.  

Not knowing how she would fair herself, we went ahead to register her with a local Chinese school nearby. Many of my friends said it was a very harsh decision I had made.

Over the months, some good stuff, some bad stuff ...  I see her smile, i see her grief, I see her laugh, I see her cry, I heard fascinating stories about her classmates, i heard complaints about how terrible a few of the boys in her class, clumsy acts, funny jokes, the boy she hated most said she's his girl friend ha! But most importantly, I see her grow.

I once asked her how she finds the schools she attended so far as compare to this current one? She told me that in her previous schools (yes... is "schoolsss"... this is her 5th school, by the way!), there were not much problems. Things were so easy then. Teacher and assistant teacher would sort everything for them. A few clicks on the computer, it's done. 

For this school now, everything you need --- it's either "don't have", "missing", "bring your own", "broken", "finish already", "find it"... she told me that they had to run around the school to look for it and sometimes they had to ask around to find answers. 

I said: "Wow, that must be terrible!"  

But she said: "Not really, I learn to do a lot of things on my own. I  know where to find the things I needed." 

 Wow, as the Chinese saying goes, 吃得苦中苦，方为人上人 (meaning: no cross, no crown), is indeed true! 

An triple scoop ice cream and KFC for lunch is the treat she gets for being so well behave and made her way through.  

Daddy and mummy are so proud of you and good luck to Year 4!

 #VICTORY#

Republish the Malay Lessons

Had been really busy lately with so many things... school exams, renovation, finding tenants, helping my sisters, doing translation blah blah blah... Wow, life is so great and versatile, though didn't help much with my balance in the bank :)!  But, the best part is  I am just so loving it!

Recently there were few inquiries from caring mothers out there asking about how I taught my daughter Bahasa Melayu, that drew me back to my blog that was "long forgotten" by me....

Thank you so much for your support. I sincerely hope that these lessons would benefit your angels too, just like mine! 

I have republished the Malay lessons using another platform (www.scribd.com). Somehow had difficulties using the new Google Groups stuff...  not sure why. I guess I still need sometime to digest and learn the system. But anyhow, hopefully this new one will be more "downloading" friendly. 



Till then, Chao!

Little Girl Crushes

My daughter came home yesterday telling me that she had a fight with her best friend. She said that her heart really pain when her friend said such a thing to her.

Initially, I didn't know what exactly was going on. I told her to forgive her friend because she is her best friend. I told her to open up her heart, open up her mind, forgive and accept her again. Perhaps she didn't do it on purpose I said. Perhaps she was very tired therefore she was in a bad mood.... The more I said it, the more she cried. I didn't what to do. 

I let her have a quiet moment. We went strolling outside talked about everything under the sun except what had happened in school. 

In the evening, we talked again. She told me that her friend teased her for liking her classmate. Oh I see. Now I understand. It is the crushes thingy!

Well, having crushes on boys is absolutely a normal but yet a secret thingy that is going on in school. It is normal because it is just a natural instinct for a normal human being should behave. It is secret because it will be really embarrassed if other people knows about it and the guy you happened to have crushes on didn't like you. So, it is important to keep it a secret. 

For a child at this age, they somehow already have good understanding of the latter. Thanks to the TV shows and cartoons! 

What could be the worst to happen then? 

Your best friend teased you in front of the boy you like, that you have crushes on him! 

Oh yes! Oh yes! You feel like your whole face is blushing red and in urgent need for a hole to hide your red face! It took me quite a while to comfort my girl. Finally this works. 

I told her that well, it is a normal thing for a girl to like a boy. It is not something we should feel embarrassed about. It doesn't mean that they have cooties or what and they are different. In fact, we are just human being. God made us to like each other. Besides, everybody has crushes on somebody. True enough, my girl told me that her best friend also have crushes on another boy. 

We can make friends with anyone, be it a boy or a girl as long as they are nice to be with. She likes to play with that boy because he happens to be nice to her. So, i tell her the next time you know your friend has crushes on someone, do you laugh at her? 

She smiled and said I will tell her it is a normal thing. Don't worry, I will keep the secret for you. 

This is what LOVE is all about!

I have been having bad night cough for the last two nights. I refrained myself from taking cough medicine and cough relief tablets because the more I consumed, my cough seem to get worst. Not much choice but to rely just on drinking more water, eat more honey and fruits for vitamin C. 

My girl was rather sad seeing mummy having sleepless nights. The night before, she offered to help apply Vicks VapoRub on my chest and my back before I slept. She even "relocated" her bed to my room just in case I needed more Vicks in the middle of the night :)... Well, frankly she likes to sleep with daddy and mummy still despite she is already 9! I suppose this would give her a very good excuse to do so though ha!  :) :)

Yesterday night, seeing me coughing like a horse, she went into the internet and search for information on how to get rid of night tickling cough! She had written them in pieces of small papers, joined them together and had pasted it on the wall next to my bed. I am so touched by her gesture! I am so in love with her!!!

And by the way, this is my "prescription".

In case anyone out there faces similar sickness as I do, some of the effective one are:

• hot tea with lemon and honey
• cinnamon and lime (boil  1 or 2 pieces of cinnamon in a pot of lime juice)
• take a warm bath - take deep breath in front of the shower as steam helps to hydrate our throat
• put a cold wet cloth over your throat to relief coughing - this one seems to work well surprisingly!
• apply Vicks Vaporub generously on the bottom of your feet, cover with socks - all these while, I had been applying Vicks on my chest and throat area instead. No wonder it is not working!  

She told me that according to the internet, cinnamon is particularly effective but not popular. I will go to supermarket today to pick up some cinnamon and lime to try it out.

To our beloved daughter, bravo! 

Mummy and Daddy love you so much and this is for you!! 

 

Babymime (Thailand)

Last weekend, our family went to watch a mime show at PJ Civic Hall. It was a charity performance to raise funds for the poor in the border of Myammar. The event was organized  by 般若学舍 Persatuan Meditasi Prajna KL & Sel., co-organized by ASLI戏剧联盟 Drama Art Community Association KL & Sel. 

The performers, known as Babymime are from Thailand. It was a FANTASTIC performance! Many thanks to my younger sister who sponsored us the tickets to the show.  

The story line encompasses around things that happen around us. They see the world through the eyes of children, they behave like one most of the time :) yet bringing laughter to all the audiences. It is definitely a good show for the whole family, young and old. They are very spontaneous and sensitive to the audience. 

A little "move" or "noise" from the audience would catch their attention and they would definitely do something about it! So, if don't want to get their attention, better sit tight and be quiet ha!   

They have many series of shows and the shows would be tailored to the audience and local delights accordingly. For example, the one we watched encompassed around family core values and things we do with our kids such as visiting the zoo, photographing etc and the highlight of all, The Red Riding Hood to end the great evening. 

After watching the show, I took the trouble to search for some information about the group on the internet. The group comprises of three members, and the crew members are Tongkleu Tongtae, Ratchai Rujiwipat and Nattapon Kummeta.

 extracted from Babymime official website (in Thai Language)

The Babymime Group has gained success both domestically and internationally with their impressive mime performance for over ten years. 

The core concept of the show is that words can lie but the body and movements never lie. They believe that if people are sincere to each other and do not lie, the society will become a better place.

If we are lucky, they may come back for another round of performance, be sure to give it a try!

ENJOY!!

Some videos to share: 

- Slow Walk by Babymime

- Babymime Part 2 (Magic Show)
- Babymime in Bangkok Theater Festival  


p/s. The show was so great that I forgot to take any picture during the performance but not too bad, at least got a chance to snap a photo with them upon exiting the theater. 

 My mom, me and my daugther with Babymime (photo taken on 25 June 2011)

A Very Educational Trip Indeed!

During the last school holiday, we went to Cherating. Great experience, beyond expectations! 

First of all because we had been to Kuantan and Cherating beach during our last trip. For us, this trip is merely to "relax". And because we just came back to Malaysia, we thought we should for once tour our own country instead of spending vacations overseas every year. 

We signed up for a hotel+tour package with Impiana Cherating Resort. The tour package includes 2 nights stay at the resort, 1 firefly watching tour and 1 turtle watching tour. It was priced at MYR798 nett for 2 adults + 2 child. All expenses for the tour including entrance fee, shuttling, tour guide are inclusive in the package.

On the first night of our stay, we went for the firefly watching. It was a fascinating trip. Frankly, for city dwellers like us, even getting onto the motorboat itself or trying to balance on the motorboat were already quite challenging ha! 


As soon as everybody embarked onto the motorboat, the journey began. The motorboat led us into the darkness of the mangrove. The surrounding was really dark we could hardly see our own fingers at times. 

Only the tour guide was allowed to carry a torch light (to lure the firefly out of the trees in order for us to see them). 

According to the tour guide, with more developments taking place, we needed to venture much deeper into the mangrove area in order to find them. 

As we went closer, the sight of fireflies rushing out from the bushes was so magical.  The fire flies even landed on our hands and sometimes it landed on our shoulders too! 

It is definitely worth the trip because seeing and feeling the fireflies, surrounded by them in real life were so much different. Photographs.. just can't elaborate it! In fact, during the trip, we were asked not to snap photos with flash. How would we able to take good photos in such darkness and no flash? So, in the end, we decided to pack our camera away, sat tight and enjoyed the view. And the wind breeze too... 


If you wish to save some money, instead of going through the hotel, you can contact Hafiz at 017-978 9256 or via email at kohafiz@gmail.com directly to make bookings. For as long as you stay in any hotels along the coastal road (Jln Kuantan-Kemaman), it will be easy to get to Hafiz. Just tell him where you stay and he will be more than happy to direct you to his place. 

The next morning, we went for the river boat ride (through Hafiz too). It was the same boat ride we took the night before except, instead of watching fireflies, we scout for wild animals.



It was a clear and sunny day.

The moment we embarked onto the motorboat into the mangrove area, we hardly notice how hot the weather was. Cool weather, light breeze, it was indeed an enchanting ride. I felt like saying "Wow, Mother Earth's so beautiful! 

A great lesson learned -- we must preserve our forest, our nature and our environment!


Hafiz was good and experienced. He has a great pair of eyes. At quick instances, he was able to identify where the wild animals were taking naps. We saw snakes dangling down from branches just above our heads, colourful crabs, squirrel leaping in between the branches etc, a fascinating experience not to be missed indeed!   

Most of the animals were sleeping during the day. That was why we could get close to them. According to Hafiz, these animals went round searching for preys the night before. They slept during the day instead. My goose bump got "activated" a bit as I started to wonder how many pairs of eyes were watching at us when we were busy scouting for fireflies the night before! 

The river was getting narrower as we entered deeper into the mangrove. The water was calm, the surrounding was really quiet and creepy. Our imaginations went rather wild... wondering if there were any crocodiles! Hafiz comforted us that because this part of the river was close to the sea, therefore the water was a little salty and crocodiles didn't really like it. Unlike if we traveled further into the mangrove, we might get to say Hi to them!!  

The entire journey took about 2.5hours. Amazing ride, this was definitely better than going to the zoo! To the least of it, no stinking smell and no hot sun above our heads and no swelling feet too!! 

We went back to the hotel after, had a rest, strolled along the white beach and had dinner getting ready for the next highlight - Turtle watching. 


Turtle watching was indeed THE Highlight of the entire trip. I always thought that we needed to go to Rantau Abang in order to see real turtle laying eggs. For this trip, we thought what we could see was just some "shows" presented by the rangers from the turtle sanctuary or we probably had to watch from really far ha!  To tell the truth, we even brought binoculars with us for this trip haha!!


That night, we were told to stand by at the hotel around 9pm. They would inform us if there were turtles coming to the shore to lay eggs. Around 9.20pm, the phone rang and informed us that the tour guide was on the way to pick us up. 


Without wasting any more time, we made our way to the lobby and here we come, TURTLE!


The place was approximately 10 ~ 15 minutes from Impiana Cherating Resort. It was quite easy to get there in fact. After parking our car, we need to walk a fair bit to get to the turtle. If we did not engage this tour guide recommended by the hotel, we probably dare not even follow him into the woods as the path leading into where the turtle was located was rather creepy..... 

The tour guide was great. They explained to us what was happening and what was to come, they warned us things we should avoid etc. Definitely no camera flashing! 

When we were there, we saw a mother turtle digging a hole to prepare for eggs laying. After a few attempts, we could see she was really tired. We could hear her taking a long deep breath before she continued to dig again. Soon, the hole was deep enough and she settled into position to start laying eggs. It was difficult for her initially as we were told that this was her first pregnancy (there was no marking on her flaps as usually rangers did marking on the turtle every time they came on the shore). According to the tour guide, mother turtle would return for next laying 10 - 11 days later.  As soon as she finished laying the eggs, she would cover up the hole. Slowly she would crawl her way back into the sea. That night, she laid a total of 116 eggs! 

We were given a chance to have a close up look at the turtle eggs. The egg shelf was rather hard though from the sight of it, it seemed soft. We returned the eggs to the ranger and was told that these eggs would not hatch anymore because of the movements and turnings. We felt so bad! That's why the ranger only allowed 2 of the eggs to be removed from the hole for viewing despite there were over 40 of us there. 


We even got a chance to play with the baby turtle before setting them free into the sea. There were so cute and lovely. The moment we set the little ones on the ground, they started crawling really fast. The ranger told us that it was important to release them back from the same place so they would remember where they came from. Twenty years later, they would return to the same land to lay eggs. 

My girl was very touched and amused. This trip was really "up, close and personal". It was a very memorable experience and educational  trip indeed!


Note: For the purpose of watching turtles, June to August is the best time. Do bring a torchlight along just in case. 

Our Way Home 回家的路 - First Week of School

You may want to start from the beginning...

My "fearest" moment had finally arrived.... the first day at local Chinese school! Of so many new schools my girl had gone to, this was the most "stressful" first day at school for both her and me! I could recall when she was in kindergarten, she cried and cried refused to let me go on the first three days of school. She was fine on the forth day onwards. When she was in Singapore International School, I was there for the first 2 days. When she moved to UNIS Hanoi and British International School, I was irrelevant after the first day of school.

But for this Chinese school she is attending now, it took her 1 week to settle in! Now that I recalled, it was a blessing we made our way through. I am truly proud of my girl for willing to and being brave in accepting the new challenge. Whenever I talked to friends about putting her back to local school, all of them looked at me with their eyes opened as if I had done something I should not have done. Some of them were surprised she could adapt in the first place.  

First thing in the morning when we arrived, we were asked to see the deputy principal to get the class allocation. We waited outside the deputy principle office. There were quite a long queue waiting for the allocation surprisingly. Soon, it was time for us to see the deputy principal. The first question the deputy principal asked was: "Is she able to read Mandarin?". My girl said yes. Then the second question she asked was: "Is she able to understand Malay?". I said yes.
She shrugged as if she wasn't sure if we knew what we were talking about or whether we knew what was going to come. To be very frank, I was as worried and uncertain as her but we have to sound confident, look confident right?

After meeting the deputy principal, we were given some forms to fill up. We made our way to the canteen and started filling up the forms. It was a Monday and there was assembly going on. We saw rows and rows of children queuing and listening obediently to the principal. Thereafter, everybody stood and sang one song after another. If I was not wrong, at least 3 songs they sand. Unfortunately, the only one I could recognize was Negaraku :( ... While I was busy filling up the forms, I soon realized that everybody in school had stopped whatever in hands and stood up straight. We were the only few who did not do it. Sigh... After few years staying outside of Malaysia, we sort of forgot how to respect our own country! I felt rather embarrassed myself. On this note, I told myself that of all the challenges ahead of us and nostalgia we had over the luxurious life style when we were staying overseas, this justify our return and in fact this is our home our tanahair, we must come back.

After 10 minutes or so, all the children started marching back into the classrooms like troops.

I soon realized my girl was in panicky condition. It was indeed a total disastrous cultural shock for her. She started to cry wanting to go home. Refused to even look up when I called her. My heart sank miles down to the bottom of the dead blue sea. I felt like pulling her hands and said: "Lets go, we are not staying here!" But, I knew I needed to be strong, my role being there was to help and support her. I could not lose my footing...

The only thing I could do was to comfort her and encourage her to pull herself together. 

After all the kids and teachers had gone into their classrooms respectively, we made our way to the designated class my girl was allocated to. When we arrived at the classroom, there wasn't any empty seats available. She was even more panicky!

We introduced ourselves to the homeroom teacher and I managed to explain to her my daughter's current state ie. cultural shock wanting to go home stage haha!!

The teacher was kind enough to give me her mobile number so I could contact her in case my girl faced any difficulties or I had any questions. I must say that my girl would not have made her way through if not because of this dedicated teacher. It is very rare to find dedicated teachers like her nowadays.

Immediately she assigned some kids in the class to go table hunting and after about 10 minutes, they came back with many sets of tables and chairs. I was delighted to see the kids are just so helpful. As soon as the teacher assigned them the task, they decided among themselves to split the team and start the hunt. Soon, each team came back with a set of table and chair. It was fun seeing such scenario which we do not get to experience in international school because everything is so organized in international schools and children do not need to worry about anything, not even stationaries as they are all readily available within their reach.

Also unlike international school where buddies would be assigned to new comers, ie. a way of helping new comers to make friends so to speak, in local school, you are on your own. My girl had a bit of a struggle initially. My husband and I had to visit her every day during break time just to make sure she managed to find some buddies. In the second week, the situation improved. Every other day I heard new names. She started making friends which was great. Once they have friends in class, everything would be fine.

It is entering 6 months now since the first day of school and she had been through 2 exams already. Things are getting tough but I always remind her to look at things positively, at times put ourselves in other people's shoes. Like some teachers like to scare the kids with cane. I told her to look at the number of kids in the class and looked at some very naughty kids in class, sometimes the teachers just could not help it.

Three months ago, a new teacher came on board and he happened to come from the elite school nearby. As expected, he was strict to the kids and very demanding. She always complaint to me about how boring, how strict, how serious the teacher was... Two weeks ago when she received her test papers, she got 93 points as compared to 80 points before. She progressed. Because of this "demanding" teacher, she managed to get over with 6,7 and 8 time tables. She had been struggling with this for months in international school and could not get over with it! And now she made it through.

These are just ups and downs they will experience in school. I guess instead of pushing her to score higher points, penalizing her for making silly mistakes in exams. The least and the best I could do for her is to encourage her, support her and to nurture her with the right mindset. Somehow, the kid will survive one way or the other.

Today, I look at her. She seem to be more matured now. Many things she does on her own now. She tidies her own school bag and gets her school shoes ready for the next day on her own. She cut her nails on her own. She even started to do revision at night on her own. Unlike before, nothing worried her. She didn't need to bother what she brought to school because there were no text books to bring for a start! There were no homework to do. As soon as they leave their classroom, they leave everything behind. Clear mind ready to play! And, absolutely no issue if she forgets to bring anything to school. Most of the time, she could not even recall what was being taught in school as soon as she reached home. All she could remember was what she played in school and who she played with. Not that she did not learn anything, just different approach, stress-free and more of learning at own pace. Perhaps the learning was so fun that it was hard to recollect exactly what was learned. 

On the other hand, the shortcomings of the local system is of course the teaching method is rather "square" I must admit. Truly speaking, lesser homework would really help nurture a happy and more healthy growing kids, physically and mentally. I wish the government's intention to enrich the education system with livelier content and more activities orientated could materialize soon. This would really help to improve the local education system.

But as of now if you ask me now, I would say I have no regrets sending her back to Chinese school! Thanks to 侯彩风老师 (my girl's homeroom teacher) and Bravo to my girl too!!

Our Way Home 回家的路 - Back to School

You may want to start from the beginning...

From the day we arrived Kuala Lumpur to the start of new school year, we had 5 working days left! Yes, 5 working days and we had not even have a place for her in any schools!!

We could not do it much earlier in fact. Education ministry said without school leaving certificate, we can't  submit any application. The current school said that we will release the school leaving certificate towards the last few days of school when everything was returned. Chicken and egg, egg and chicken. Anyway, can't do much until we literally place our foot back home.

My husband and I decided to let our girl tried out the local school. It was a "harsh" decision considering she had been learning in international school environment. However, if you ask me now, I must say I have no regrets sending her to local school despite there were some negative comments about the system. Do read on...

We started our 1/5 workings day by visiting  the school we intended to send her. It was school holiday. The PIC said he was not sure if there was any vacancy. He directed us to Section 19 Shah Alam. So, we went all the way to Section 19. Believe me, it was not easy to find. The building has no frontage to the main road nor any prominent landmarks  nearby. There was only a very small signboard by the main road as you are approaching the junction. Anyway, we went there and were told that we had to submit at the education ministry first! And, we were directed to another place! Gosh...


After we went through it, the process was very simple actually. Somehow it was not spell out anywhere, nor in the ministry's website whatsoever (hope one day it will be!). It only took 3 days to get the approval from education ministry and on the 4th day we were at the new school already. I could not believe we could make it actually!

If we had taken the right path in the first place, it would not have been so hectic. Basically, it is like this.

1. Just make a call to the education ministry (http://www.moe.gov.my/ - tel. no. 603-8884 6000 / 603-7723 7070) to inquire for the nearest office your child should be registered with. Do not attempt to drop them any email, somehow nobody bothers to respond, I would not be surprised because I had dropped in several emails to some private schools near my place, I did not get any response either!!

2. Go straight to the ministry's office. Pick up the "returning from overseas form", fill them up. Do bring along at least 3 copies of the necessary documents namely:
- both parents (IC, passport - page with particulars + page bearing the immigration stamp stating the date you arrived home)
- school leaving certificate
- child's birth certificate/IC and passport (same as above)
- letter from employer to proof that you have been working overseas and now returning home

School results are not required for primary kids. You will be given 2 choices of schools. Be sure to find out which 2 schools you would like your child to enter prior to going there.

3. With the form duly completed and all details annexed accordingly, your application will be approved within an hour.

4. Next is to visit the allocation office which the officer will direct you where to go. This was the place I was directed by the school PIC in the first place which I am not suppose to visit until I get clearance from the education ministry. See, even the staff didn't know the correct procedure! Frankly, if these procedures are communicated well to the public, I strongly believe that the perception towards our government departments will be much favorable than now. Anyway, this is the place they will assign your child to the respective school. Submit the approved forms to the counter and come back on the 3rd working day.

5. You will receive the allocation letter on the 3rd working day. Be sure to start your day early to beat the queue!


Hurray, we got a seat! My heart is as heavy as a rock. I wasn't sure if this was the right decision, would it be the right path for her? Whether my girl is able to pull through because everybody says local school is a crazy place especially Chinese school and I am sending her to the crazy place!

Next - Our Way Home -First Week of School

Our Way Home 回家的路 - The Relocation Begins!

Click here to start from the beginning....

I started organizing the packing, got some quotes from the relocation experts and finally got them to come in for final measurements. And hoooh.... time flies, came the day they came to pick up the goods from our house, time to say bye bye.

by the way, in case you are looking for not-so-expensive shipping agent, you can consider for MAS Cargo (http://www.maskargo.com). They do not provide the household cargo service to all cities in the world but at least major cities are (ie. In Vietnam, MAS Cargo covers Ho Chi Minh City but not Hanoi). So, if you happen to be in the cities where MAS Cargo is available and you are looking for budget shipping, feel free to contact them to find out more.  For my shipment, the price difference as compared to the relocation agents was 50% at least.

Since it is cheap. it comes with a price of course.

The "complication" is you need to deal with three parties, separated but related. Let me put it this way, all the parties are related to MAS Cargo but they operate on its own. One party will come to your house to pick up the goods and have them check-in at the airport, the second party, which MAS Cargo itself, will ensure your goods are delivered via air freight to the destination country. Upon checking-out, you can commission another party to assist in custom clearance and transfer to your doorstep after. This could be an option in case the company you are servicing does not provide relocation coverage.

These three parties as I said, they are related but they operate independently.  Unfortunately I can't comment much about the service because finally I did not use the service. The company my husband was working then had requested us to use their appointed relocation agent instead. Anyone out there, if you had experienced using MAS Cargo before, perhaps can share it with us then!  

Back to where I was, hooooff... there goes our goods and the next day, in the morning of Christmas, we flew home.

With that, our new chapter of life begins.... with many great challenges and adventures awaiting us!!

Next ~ Our Way Home - Back to School

Our Way Home 回家的路 - Breaking the News

It has been quite some time I did not write in my blog that I almost forgot my entry password!

I could still recall vividly 2 months ago when my husband told me that he has decided to resign finally and the whole family would be shifting back to Kuala Lumpur. I have prepared my mind for it all these while, well, that was what I thought I had but it turned out, it was a difficult reality for me. Finally, my "nightmare" became a reality.

Just the thought of the relocation process, the packing-unpacking, new schooling for my girl, new adjustment for everybody blah blah blah... made me.. very vulnerable i should say.

Wake up! It is the reality we have to face. Bite the bullet and just do it, I told myself!

First thing first, I need to break the news to my girl. When I broke the news to her, she had been pretty mature in accepting the news. She sort of understood that despite how nice her current school and classmates were, this is still other people's country (we were in Ho Chi Minh City, btw), we need to go home one day.

My heavy heart got lighten up quite a fair bit, because of all the "vulnerabilities", she is always my No. 1 concern. Looks like my worries about her not able to adjust and accept the change is redundant. In fact, she is grown-up now.

As it was approaching the start of winter break and in order to catch the commencement of new school year in Malaysia beginning of January, we had decided to "accelerate" our relocation plan. Therefore, I didn't manage to organize any farewell party for her. What I had done was just prepared some small gifts for her to bring to her friends on her last day of school.

In the morning of her last day going to school, she cried finally.... She said: "I know we have to go back one day but I didn't expect it comes so fast. I am very sad." My heart sunk to the bottom, I felt like holding her in my arms and cried together but I knew I couldn't. I have to be strong so she would be strong too. It was a very difficult moments for both of us.

Going home is not so easy afterall...... 

Next ~ Our Way Home 回家的路 - Relocation Begins

Malaysian Pride - Upin & Ipin

Upin & Ipin is the pride of all Malaysians. Thanks to Les' Copaque Production!

We got to know about Upin & Ipin just recently. I think probably early this year when we moved back to Ho Chi Minh City. I still vividly remembered the very first episode we watched was on Disney Channel Asia.

The story was about how the twins (two 5 year-old boys named Upin & Ipin) celebrated their 1st Mother's day. Kak Ros, their eldest sister had brought them to meet their mom at the graveyard. Their mom passed away in their infancy. They were happily cleaning up and beautifying the place for their mom. It was a joyful moment for both of them.

In the end, they did not forget to also celebrate "Opah's day" (grandma's day) with their beloved grandma. It was a very lovely and touching story. 

As I was watching it with my daughter, I was telling her that "hey, this story is so Malaysian!" It can't be produced by Malaysia, right? It is on Disney channel! That was what we thought. As the show ended, we were so surprised to see that ... Wow, it is made in Malaysia!!

From then on, my daughter has been "chasing after" almost every episode, from one season to the other. She doesn't stay in Malaysia nor study in Malaysian school. Upin & Ipin is a great exposure for her to understand Malaysia. Some of the things I had done before when I was young. The feeling was so nostalgia. 

This round when we got back....

One day, when I was driving on Federal Highway, my girl was shouting from the back seat: "Mom, Upin & Ipin!! On magazine now!!!" A delivery van just drove passed us with Upin & Ipin's ads on it. That was how we got to know that Upin & Ipin's on magazines!!!

The next day, we dropped by Popular bookstore. We managed to pick up issue 6 (June release). It's RM4.90 each.

Most stories in there were continuation from previous issue. In addition to Upin & Ipin's stories, they also have the new one "Geng". Both comics were in locale Malay. It is a great opportunity for our children to learn the locale. This will be helpful in their communication skills.

Apart from comics, children also get to learn what's happening behind screen, who is the voice behind Upin & Ipin, how the animation was produced, facts about Malaysia, the states and capital cities.

The comics can be easily understood by children of 7 - 9 years old depends on their Malay language capability. for the others, parent's guidance may be required.  

Missed the previous release? Not to worry, you can still get the previous releases. You can purchase the latest issue from Popular bookstore. There is a form you can fill up, mail it across attaching the money order / postal order of RM52.90 (for 12 issues). Write a little note to ask them to mail to you the previous issues. Thereafter, just continue the subscription of the remaining issues.

Alternatively, you can visit their office in Petaling Jaya for purchase of the previous issues as well as to subscribe for future releases. That was what I did because it's equally troublesome to go to the bank or post office to get a money order / postal order. Just bring enough cash will do.

Their office is located at:

Nyla Sdn Bhd

No. 47, SS14/28

(it is a bungalow unit behind Digital Mall, SS14)  

Tel: 1700806952

Upin & Ipin's official website : www.upindanipin.com.my/