Happy Last Day to Fathini and Hafizah.

Salam to all,

These are the photos of the cake that I promised yesterday.

Presenting...........

And.....

What do you think? Well, please ignore the sloppy job that I did. hehe. This morning (Wednesday, 31 March 2010), we brought this cake to Peachgrove playcentre. As this morning was Fathini, Hafizah, Ella (Tini's BFF) and Reuben last day (for the full session), each mommy had to bring a plate of food to be shared for the morning tea.

The first thing that Fathini and Hafizah did was spelling their names by choosing the magnetics letters and put them up on the white board. Fathini who was so quick in doing that (since she already knew how to write her own name since she was 4), helped Hafizah. However Hafizah didn't really want her sister to help. She was happy choosing some letters that she already knew like "H", "I", "O" and "M". Yup she recognize some letters and it's so randomly picked. They somehow moved on to the playground area where they were happily joined the other kids at the swings and the obstacle course. They actually spent a good half an hour at the playground.

By 10.30, most of the kids were called inside to help preparing the special tea food. Some were asked to help making some sushi and the others helped to cut some fruits. We had heaps of food at the Kai table today. Fathini, Ella, Reuben and Hafizah were seated side by side so we could sang "Happy Last Day" song. (based on Happy Birthday song). We had to sing the song four times to let each of leaving kids to blow the candles. Hafizah was the only kid( who are leaving the pc) that refused the blow the candles and she even tried to hide her face. After the singing, the kids and the adults enjoyed the kai (food) like sushi, chocolate cake, corn sandwiches and fruits. The kids really enjoyed the egg-free chocolate cake. So, without egg, a chocolate cake still became a great cake. Most of the kids didn't stay so long inside before they moved on to play outside again.

 

Fathini and Hafizah resumed to play at the playground. Dug (the only dad who joined as a member), helped them when they wanted to cross the planks. Fathini and Hafizah had gained so much confidence now especially when they wanted to cross the planks on their own. Fathini also copied Isla who was climbing on a tree and pretended to be a monkey. They were both on that tree for couple of minutes. Few minutes later, we had to join the others in the Fire and Earthquake drills. The kids already knew what to do in both situations. For the Fire Drill, we would go outside of the area and stay at the designated meeting point for the roll call. For the Earthquake drill, they asked the kids to go to the fort (in the playground area) and practiced the "turtle sitting" position.

Just before the clean-up time (by 11.30 a.m.), the four kids; Fathini, Ella, Reuben and Hafizah were asked to sit on the designated chairs. It was the certificate ceremony. I felt a big lump in my heart and I did shed some tears during the ceremony. Why? Well, we've become the playcentre members since May 2008 and we feel so attached to the place and of course to other wonderful members. Each of the kids received a certificate, a playcentre pencil case with a playcentre plastic cup and a farewell card. We stayed there to help with the clean-up time and I also helped Ella's mommy (Leah) to do some jobs as she seemed to need extra helps anyway. Fathini and Hafizah were happy to stay longer too as they could play with Ella and also Ryan.

An egg-free chocolate cake recipe.

Salam to all,

I talked about food allergy and food intolerance yesterday. And Sirna (one of the bloggers who always visit my blog) asked if I could share a recipe that's suitable for those who are allergic to certain food. So, that's what I'm going to share today. This is not my own recipe but I got this recipe from a friend who posted on the facebook. At our playcentre, we also have almost the same recipe from a recipe book that we normally use for the process cooking.

Egg-Free Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 cup of cocoa powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 1/2 cups of sugar

1 cup of vegetable oil

2 cups of cold water

4 teaspoon of vanilla essence

4 tablespoon of vinegar

(I used The Self-Raising Flour instead of standard flour and baking soda)

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. Line the baking tin with baking paper.

3. Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda, sugar and salt into a bowl.

4. Combine oil, water, vinegar and vanilla essence in other bowl.

5. Pour the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix well.

6. Pour the mixture into the tin.

7. Bake for 1 hour or until the cake looks ready.

You might be wondering where's the photo of the cake? Well, I want to make it a surprise because I intend to write the continuation of this entry tomorrow. We are going to have a simple celebration for Fathini and Hafizah's last day at the playcentre. I'm going to bring the cake for the celebration. So, please be patient and wait until tomorrow to see the cake. hehe. Meanwhile, why don't you try to make your own egg-free chocolate cake too! It only takes about 20 minutes to be prepared. It's really a super-duper easy cake.

Food allergy vs food intolerance.

Salam to all,

One of my dearest friend in the playcentre today was so upset. The reason? Well, it was nobody's intention but it happened due to our ignorant and there's no specific policy regarding food allergies. There were twins who turned 2 today and they celebrated their birthdays during the session. The twins mommy didn't actually realized what really happened as most of us normally brought a cake from home that contains some allergen substances. And one of dearest friend's daughters suffers from a severe allergy to eggs and nuts. Some of us had to helped to calm her down. There was no obvious commotion but it really brought up the serious issue that we tend to forgot.

I have to admit that I myself am a bit ignorant too! Before this, I thought that food allergy and food intolerance was the same thing! However when I got home, I searched for more information from Google and I found out that they are some differences between the two!

Now, let's us see what I've found out from one of the sources:
 
Food allergy
A food allergy involves a reaction of your immune system, whereas a food intolerance does not. If you have a food allergy your immune system makes antibodies against a particular (essentially harmless) food. It's as if your immune system mistakes that type of food for a harmful foreign invader.
This means that when you eat the particular food again, the pre-formed antibodies swing into action and trigger a cascade of reactions in your tissues that result in some or all of the typical symptoms of food allergy:

• mouth itching and swelling
• rash
• hives
• runny nose
• vomiting
• abdominal pain
• diarrhoea
• swelling of the throat and tongue
• sometimes difficulty breathing.

These symptoms usually occur a few minutes to 2 hours after eating the food.

What is food intolerance?

Food intolerance is an abnormal response to a food (often to a 'food chemical' or additive), resulting in symptoms of illness. It is not an immune system reaction. The suspect food chemical may be naturally occurring in the food or it may be added to foods to enhance the flavour or preserve the food.

A food intolerance can mean you have symptoms to a range of foods because the suspect chemical may be present in many different foods. Compare this to a person with a food allergy, in which case they often only react to just one or two foods.

Food intolerance is a more common condition than food allergy and may cause diarrhoea, nausea, cramping or headache soon after eating the food, hours later, or even days after eating the food. The severity of symptoms can vary because the suspect food chemical can accumulate in the body, depending on how much of the suspect food (or foods that contain the suspect chemical) you have eaten. Eating a small amount of the suspect food may not cause symptoms, but eating a lot of it can.

Sometimes a food intolerance occurs when your body is not able to process a food component. A good example of this is lactose intolerance where the person lacks the enzyme necessary to break down the milk sugar (lactose) for proper digestion.

(these are just the excerpt from this website- http://everybody.co.nz. For more info. you can also check other reliable sources)


Fathini and Hafizah used to have the food allergies too when it comes to eggs. And Hafizah had the lactose intolerance when she was a baby. I didn't really mind with that because I fully breastfed her until she turned 26 months old. Both if them grew out of it when they turned 18 months or earlier. Their allergies were not too severe. Since we came here (to NZ) I read about this food allergy issue being addressed in magazines, newspapers and of course it's a serious issue at schools too. If my daughters had the severe food allergy, I would have act and feel the same way as those parents who have to deal with this every single day.

It was a heart breaking scene today to see when my good friend's daughter begged to try a piece a cake even though she knew that she couldn't eat it. That's why some of us tried our best to support my good friend by saying that we should brought this issues up again in our monthly meeting. And I'm going to bake an eggs-free cake for Fathini's last day at the playcentre this Wednesday.

What say you? Have you ever had to deal with this issue before? If so, I'm certainly happy to hear your own experiences regarding this.

Hamilton Nightglow 2010 at Waikato University - What happened?

Salam to all,

Yesterday I promised that I would further tell about the Nightglow which is the highlight of the Balloons Over Waikato Festival 24-28th March 2010. So, in this entry I'm going to share of what happened during last night.

The night event started from 4 p.m. but we only went there after the Maghrib prayer. yelah kami tak nak semata2 nak tengok benda tu, solat diabaikan.By 7.30 p.m. we left our house and walked to the Waikato University Sports Field. There were lots of people who were just arrived and we walked together with the other families (that we don't know) towards the same place. We could see rows of cars parked beside the road and there were some places like the Knighton Normal School which offered parking spaces (those who parked had to pay). 

15 minutes later, we arrived at the Sports Field. It seemed to be a bigger event compared to last year. Thousands of people had already been there since 4 p.m. We could see the Fun Fair park with some fun fair rides, food stalls and some stalls selling t-shirts, balloons, jade and Paua jewelleries and a stall that offered Air Brush Tattoos! Since we've walking for 1.1 km, Fathini was tired by the time we arrived and she asked for a drink. So, I gave her a cup of hot milo that I brought from home. (I was more prepared than the last time we went to see the balloons in the Innes Common!)

We didn't have to wait so long before the Inflation Music began. They turned off most of the lights on the field. The balloons quietly began to inflate in preparation for the Glow. My hubby didn't take so many photos during this time since we were actually standing quite far from the balloons. Our main purpose this year was to enjoy watching the show for the last time. I'm sorry if I'm not able to give more satisfied photos here. The glow started soon after that, when the announcer said "Enjoy the Balloon Movie Night". What we could see were the stunning light and sound shows featuring the OST from some popular movies like Ghostbusters, Mamma Mia, Pretty Woman and many more. Hafizah had fun listening to the songs rather than watching the show. She was dancing and swinging to the rhythm. Fathini sat on my hubby's shoulders and she didn't make any sound except when we asked if she was watching the show. The nightglow show was under the direction of Nightglow producer, Trevor Graham from UK.

About half an hour later, The Firework Spectacular took place. It was prepared and done by Waikato Pyrotechnic Master Martin Van Tiel. It was so stunningly beautiful and I was busy capturing the most stunning fireworks to be uploaded here. Once it was almost at the end, I didn't have the chance to capture it because I thought that I should take the photo of us. But it turned out that there's only my hubby in the photo! haha. By the way, Hafizah didn't cry this year and this actually her third time watching the huge fireworks. During the first year we were here, I was pregnant with her. Fathini looked amazed as always when she watched the fireworks. 

Most of people had already left the field even before the fireworks ended because they didn't want to be caught up in the traffic. We took our own sweet time after the fireworks ended. I even thought it would be good to buy two helium balloons to my daughters. (even though it costs about $4 each). Of course Fathini and Hafizah were so happy when they got the balloons. We met some of our Malaysian friends on the way back and stop few times to have a chat. Once again on our way, we walked back with the other people and those who came and parked their cars had to wait longer before they could even got out of the place. By the time we arrived home, we were tired and actually hungry. So, I made a slice of toast and also a cup of milo for each of us. sblm keluar rumah dah mkn nasi tapi lps jln kaki rasa lapar balik. hehe

Hamilton Nightglow at Waikato University is TONIGHT!

Salam to all,

Tonight we're going to watch The Hamilton Nightglow at Waikato University again for the fourth time! This is the Hamilton's Big Night Out. It actually starts at 4.00 p.m. but from 4.00 till 7.45 p.m. , there will be some musical entertainment and the fun fair entertainment. During the first year (2007), we went to the fun fair and managed to watch the whole Nightglow thing until the end. There were also not so many people attended the event during that year. But since then, more and more people from all over NZ (I guess?) are attending this event every year. Last year, it was about 10,000 people (that's what had been estimated-I'm not sure but it was so many people), attended the Nightglow.

I'm sorry for not telling you what is actually Nightglow.  It is the orchestrated Balloon Glow Show. They basically light up their balloons based on the music and it is a magnificient show to be watched.
So, tonight right after the Maghrib prayer, we'll start walking from our house. It normally takes about 15 minutes to go there. I hope that tonight Hafizah won't be crying when we watch the fireworks. Last year, she was 21 months old. She and I heard the other babies too, cried when they heard a loud noise from the fireworks.

All right, that's all for now. I'll be reporting of what happened tonight by tomorrow because I need to put up some photos to give more illustrations.

The young artists received the recognition! Thanks to Conteng-Conteng.Com

Salam to all,

I received 2 good news from Conteng-Conteng.com regarding their Colouring Contest (February 2010) and also the paintings done by Fathini and Hafizah that I submitted 2 weeks ago.

First news that I received in my e-mail:

Dear Mommy, Fathini and Hafizah,

Congratulations! You have been identified as two of the winners for Conteng-Conteng Coloring Contest (February ’10) – Cute Category. We were overwhelmed by your effort and your courage to submit your precious artwork. The results and all the winners' artworks are now available for viewing in Conteng-Conteng.

Upon receiving this email, Conteng-Conteng has arranged for delivery of our small gifts to your address. It was due to arrive in a month or two (we use normal parcel mail J ).

We do hope you’ll like the gifts and will be inspired by it. We will look forward for your contributions to come in the future!

Just a note, we would very much pleased if you can snap a picture (or two) of you (and your family if you prefer) along with the gifts and email them to us. We are honored to publish it in the gallery as an inspiration to all.  J

Congratulations and Have a wonderful day!

Here were their masterpieces:

Now, the second news:

Salam,

 

Dear Mommy, Hafizah and Fathini,

 

Conteng-Conteng is so proud to receive your beautiful artworks! And...they are from New Zealand!! Yeahh.. :))

 

Your two beautiful artworks have been uploaded in Conteng-Conteng today, in 'Painting' Section. You can now spread the news to your friends and family! Conteng-Conteng has also write some description for your artworks and should you have anything to add or remove, just email us back so we can change them as per your liking.

 

We are also offering our contributors a slot for their pictures in our 'Gallery' section. If Hafizah and Fathini would like to be in the 'Gallery', just email us a picture ya!

 

Conteng-Conteng will look forward for more artworks from Fathini and Hafizah in the future. Do spread the news about us to your friends and family.

 

Thank you so very much!

 

Cheers~

Admin

Conteng-Conteng

 
I actually submitted Fathini's and Hafizah's latest masterpieces that I posted in this entry before. *refer here* . If you remember these paintings:

Fathini's painting

Hafizah's painting

The truth is I'm more excited than they are. I guess it happens to all mothers when we are so happy when our children achieve something. Now, I can understand why my late mum used to share about our achievements to our relatives and her friends. She felt proud of her children and not because she liked to brag about us. I admit that my late mum had thought us well too. sorry kat sini terlebih emo sikit

RIGHT! For the other mums out there, don't hesitate to submit your child/children's artwork to Conteng-Content. Com. Their policy is to accept any kind of arts done by children and the arts don't have to be so "picasso-like". Click here to know about Conteng-Conteng or you can click on the banner that I put on the sidebar.

Balloons Over Waikato 2010: The Gallagher Mass Ascension.

Salam to all,

Last week I read about Hot Air Balloons event in Putrajaya, Malaysia from other people's blogs (Malaysian bloggers). Here in Hamilton, New Zealand starting from 24th March 2010 (yesterday) until 28th March, there's the biggest event in Hamilton called "Balloons Over Waikato". This year is the fourth year and final year for us to be able to see this event.The University of Waikato is one of the principal sponsors for the event. That's why the finale program is The Nightglow at The University of Waikato this Saturday, 27th March.

I always excited to see this event and that's why yesterday morning, I managed to persuade my hubby to take us to see The Gallagher Mass Ascension.Since it started at 7.30 a.m., we left the house before 7. Once we were there, we could see that other people had already been there earlier than us. The annoucer cum DJ for that day, annouced that they had to cancel the flying but they were still inflating the balloons. We were fine with that because we were just interested to see the balloons up closed. While waiting for the crews to inflate their balloons, I went over to one of the vendors to buy two cups of hot chocolate. I was surprised when I had to pay NZD $9 for two cups of hot chocolate. Well, may be because we rarely buy food or drinks as we always prepared and brought along food and drinks from home. dah nak cepat2 sgt sampai tak sempat nak buat air panas sblm pergi. huhuOne by one balloons were inflated and we got the chance to see the processes. Hafizah was somehow scared and she tried to stay far away from the balloons.

My hubby seemed excited too because he was among the busiest unofficial photographer on the site that day. hehe. He took a lot of photos of the balloons and we ended up to have about 119 photos that day! There were about 30 balloons altogether. They came from New Zealand (18 balloons), one from Hong Kong (sponsored by Cathay Pasific), 6 from Australia, 2 special balloons from USA, one from Holland, One from Germany. We watched the balloons to be inflated from the first step until they were fully inflated. Each balloon needed at least 5-7 crews plus 3-4 more to help in holding the ropes. My hubby also took the chance to make some videos but unfortunately I'm still not sure how to upload videos here. huhu. sorry.So, please enjoy looking at the photos that I got here.

I saw some of my playcentre friends at the site but I only managed to say hi to Allanah who was actually standing not far from us when we were waiting for the Jack N. D. Box to be inflated. She went there with her hubby and daughter and her son. We had a chat for a while before we moved on to see the other balloons.

By 8.30 a.m., most of the balloons were inflated and some people have already left the area since they had to sent their children to schools. We also left by 8.45. But before we left, we went into Waikato Uni. booth to check out and get a copy of the free booklet. We were also given some free stickers. I couldn't take the photos of the free stickers because my daughters had already stick them on their school bags and later lost them. hmmmm. (*sigh*).

Though we are looking forward to go back to Malaysia soon, we definitely going to miss this kind of experiences. But who knows maybe in Malaysia, it would be as big as this. (I know about the Hot Air Balloon Show in Putrajaya last weekend but I'm not sure how big was that). 

Beautiful Blogger Award- a tag from my dearest sis.

Salam to all,

Since I've chosen a serious issue yesterday, I reckon I better choose a lighter subject today. So, I've decided to do this tag from my dearest sis, Yatie Chomeyl. In order to accept the award, there are 3 rules to be adhered:

1. Thank and link the person that gave you the award.

         Thank you, terima kasih, arigato, tow chey, kap kun kap, messi, syukriya, gracias and kia ora to Cik Ti yg chomeyl lote. tubik habih bahaso bilo nok tulih terima kasih. hehe

    2. Pass this award to 15 other bloggers you've recently discovered and think are fantastic:

        Okay, I want to pass this award to-

        Wan Anie, Molly, Ummi Luqman (a.k.a Cik Ma), Mommy Yen (Sati), K.Sari, Sirna, Umi Harizahin, Mama Adam (K.Ijan), Ena, Diyana, ZieFauzi, Mamibizi, Mila_Ibu Najihah, Ibu Ayu and Elissmie.

    3. Contact them and tell them that they've won the award.

Okay. That's my next homework. 

   4. State 7 things about yourself:

What should I tell? Ti, you know all my secrects! huhu. Should I share other things, let's see.

• Can lose my temper easily but I've tried to control it as I'm aging. tua sgt ke
• Love to do baking and cooking now. kalau tak masak susah nak mkn kat sini
• Afraid of mice, rats and any animals that has furs. (a kind of phobia!)
• Quite adventureous in tasting various types of food.
• Used to be a serious motor bike rider as it was my main transport when I was studying in the university. bukan minah rempit ye.
• Love to learn martial arts. That's why I joined taekwondo (from 1995-2001) and learn a bit of silat when I participated once in SUKEM (UKM's internal sports tournament). sampai putus ligamen2 kat lutut kiri dan sakit2 bila masa sejuk sgt2 sampai skrg.
• Might be understood as being "snobbish" or "arrogant". But the fact is I can be shy when it comes to strangers and I like to take my own sweet time to get use to new friends. Once you've become my friends, I wouldn't forget you easily. 

 All right, that's all. Now I have to inform those who've been tagged here.

WHAT? Hubbies for hire at RM5,000?

Salam to all,

Let's read this news that I got from NST online today 23rd March 2010.

Hubbies for hire at RM5,000

2010/03/23
By Farrah Naz Karim

PUTRAJAYA: They may be legally married, but husbands of many foreign women in the country barely know their wives' names, let alone have a chance to consummate their marriages.

These "husbands-for-rent" are making not less than RM5,000 a month from their wives.

Immigration Department director-general Datuk Abdul Rahman Othman said these women, mainly from a particular country, used these men to enable them to stay in the country for a long period without having to go in and out of Malaysia for documentation processing.

He said it was not an exaggeration to assume that for every 25 marriages involving a foreign woman, only one was genuine.

"This figure is reflected in past raids at vice dens where these women showed enforcement officers documents to prove that they were married to local men.

"Checks revealed that they knew nothing about these so-called husbands and their husbands can't even recall the names of the wives off-hand.

"There was only one case where the husband of a foreign woman rounded up at a karaoke joint came forward to claim his wife," Rahman said, adding that Immigration laws could neither be used against these "rented husbands" nor their wives as their marriages were considered legal.

He said such cases were rampant, especially in Perak, Johor and Penang.

He said many of these foreign women, involved in vices like prostitution, could make up to RM20,000 a month, servicing 10 clients a day for at least RM100 each (considering they work 20 days a month).

Hence, Rahman said deals for these "marriages of convenience" were easily sealed as the RM5,000 they gave their "husbands" was nothing compared with what they could be losing out if they had to take long breaks and leave the country due to short permissible stays.

He added the department took this matter of bogus marriages to foreigners seriously and conducted random checks at their houses to ascertain their vows were for real and not merely on paper.

He said under Immigration procedures, foreign spouses would first be given a three-month pass to stay in the country, before being allowed six-month visas.

If satisfied, the department would issue yearly passes for five years to the foreign spouses before allowing him or her to stay in Malaysia without having to exit the country.

My reactions/thoughts/personal opinions:

I'm thinking about the latest issue of newborn infants found dead in various places in bad conditions.

What if this "marriages of convenience" is also one of the contributing factor? I'm also condemning those local men who agreed to be the hired husbands. They are only thinking about the "easy income" they will get every month when they actually do next to nothing! This issue could also tarnish the image of other genuine foreigner's wives. Some might suspect them to be in the same boat even though they are not. 

Now, what say you? I know that this might not be a new issue but it certainly not going to be resolved in a near future if there's some greedy and unspeakable men agree to be hired! 

Using a scrap book to keep our children's treasures.

Salam to all,

In the previous entry, "The Emergence of young artists" I shared about my daughters masterpieces in artworks. My daughters have had produced approximately hundreds of artworks since they attended playcentre in 2008. I received some comments from the other bloggers (thanks to my loyal readers xoxo) about the artworks. There was a suggestion that I should submit the artworks to Conteng Conteng website and some suggested that I should frame the artworks and also keep them well.

What I forgot to mention in the previous entry  is that in our playcentre, we do keep the best artwork (not all because the children tend to create so many artworks) in their special scrap book. We call it their PORTFOLIO BOOK. Every child who attend this playcentre (in fact most of other playcentres around New Zealand) will have at least one Portfolio Book. As the parents in this playcentre, we take turn to write something about our children and also other children. Normally we would snap some photos of the children especially when they are busy playing and learning through their play.

Would you like to know the contents in a Portfolio Book? Let's see the examples of Fathini and Hafizah's Portfolio Books. (Fathini has had two portfolio books now due to my eagerness to compile each and everyt crafts and paintings she made. )

So, what do you think? Is it this a fabulous idea to keep our children's treasures? From this portfolio book we as their parents are getting some benefits.

The Benefits are:

• We can see our children's development by reading from the learning stories. (done by us or other parents who observed our children).
• We can show this portfolio books to them once they grow up.
• We can read other parents' stories about our children.
• We can keep their best artworks or paintings too.

 I really like this idea. I reckon this will be a cool idea to be adopted in the kindergartens in Malaysia.
Well, that's what I would do if one day I'm able to open a kindergarten. Insya Allah.

Snap2, uploading and then e-mailing.

Salam to all,

I'm sure most of you are still enjoying your weekend and school holidays (in Malaysia). As for us here, this weekend, we are not able to go out anywhere. WHY? My hubby is busy doing his hopefully the last experiments in the lab.

The most important task for me today (21 March 2010), is to snap photos of our furnitures, electrical appliances and some of the nic nacs that can be sold before we left Hamilton for good. Our plan is to do a catalogue and then e-mail it to WUMA (Waikato University Malaysian Association) so that our Malaysian friends here, can look at the stuffs they might be interested to purchase. We already asked around and some of our friends had agreed to buy some stuffs. Well, it's a kind of booking the stuffs before we put them up for a garage sale.

I'm having a mixed feelings right now about leaving New Zealand. I'm happy to go back but at the same time, it's kind of sad to leave some good friends that I've made here. Fathini who is old enough to understand, is also sad to leave her good friends in playcentre. Will we be able to come back? Well, there's a possibility but even if we come back. it's only for a short period of time and the purpose might be to come for a holiday.

All right that's all that I can tell for now as I'm off to snap some more photos.

Ka Ki Te Ano. lama tak guna ni. hehe

The emergence of young artists.....

Salam to all,

This entry will have less words than usual. WHY? I just want to share the young artists that I have found.

So, WHO ARE THE YOUNG ARTISTS?

Are they famous? Do they sing? Act? or paint? The answer is.............................................

ALL RIGHT. Just to make you wonder a little bit, let's see their master pieces:

What do you think? Can we call those paintings good masterpieces? The first painting was painted but the young artist called Fathini and the second painting was done by Hafizah. hehe. These were my daughters masterpieces. They painted those picture when they first started to attend playcentre.

Now, let's see their latest masterpieces:

These are the lastest creation. The first picture was done by Fathini and the second one was painted by Hafizah. If you would like to interpret their paintings, I would be happy to read your interpretations.

Indigo- A Gathering of Cultures Festivals.

Salam to all,

Hamilton City Council with the help of Community Organisation Grants Scheme, Hamilton Community Arts Council, Trust Waikato, SkyCity Hamilton Community Trust and Wintec are collaboratively sponsoring and organising this special cultural festivals.

It has started last Sunday on 14th March with the street parade. However, we didn't go to watch the street parade because we were invited to our friend's house to celebrate his birthday (cum last BBQ before it gets too cold).

What is Indigo- A Gathering of Cultures Festivals?
It's a week long Festival with three main goals:

• To educate people about the diverse cultures within Hamilton.
• To celebrate the richness and colour of cultures in Hamilton.
• To communicate and strengthen understanding between all communities. (from Indigo booklet)

There are various programmes that have been running since 14th March but I was just able to see the Indigo Community Activities at Waikato Migrant Centre. There are programmes like Indigo Film Festival at The Hub Wintec (from Monday 15th-Friday 19th) at 7.30 p.m., Indigo Style (A fashion Show) at Meteor Theater on 18th March, Turangawaewae Regatta at Ngaruawahia on 20th March and the last one would be at Hamilton Gardens as the Finale Celebration. (I can't wait to see this).

On Tueday 16th March, my kids and I went to Waikato Migrant Centre to see what's happening there. We arrived at 2 p.m. (the event runs from 1-3 p.m. since Monday 15th to Friday 19th). At first we thought that nothing much was going on. But once we went to the designated room,we could see some interesting displays. We could see some crafts, photos and some people who were weaving a special kind of leaves. They said they were from Kiribati- an island nation in the Pasific Ocean. The products look similar to our traditional mat though we use different kinds of leaves. They used flax leaves and Malays normally use pandanus leaves or palm leaves. We exchanged some stories about the crafts and they even asked me if I wanted to try. But Hafizah was already tired as it was her nap time. (around 2.30 p.m.). So, I was just looking around and took some pictures. Before we left, we went to the other part where they put some displays of Korean War Photos and some posters, Philippines Traditional Clothes and some fish crackers too. Philip Yeung, the Ethnic Communities Coordinator (Hamilton City Council) invited me to come again the next day as it would a natural painting demonstration from a Taiwanese artist.

-18th March 2010-

I missed yesterday's event as I was quite tired by the time we left playcentre. Plus I didn't want to miss today's event as it sounded more interesting. I was right because there were plenty of things that I could try on today. There were origami (paper folding art), calligraphy (the ancient art of brush  writing), Ikebana (the art of flower arrangement), some Japenese cracker and sweets and Green tea was also served to visitors. I started of with the origami. I've tried this art before as it's not really new to me but I always never be good at it. Why? It's actually quite complicated unless you are the expert in folding the paper and manage to turn it into something like a paper bird, boat, windmill, a box and many more. Fathini and I were taught how to made cicadas and boxes. Though we struggled a bit, the

person who taught us was very patient and kind. We could brought our creations back plus with some other souvenirs from her. There were also some Japanese traditional games like a spinning top lain sikit dr gasing kita ye, board games, small bean bags game and two balls that was attached to a string and bowls. tak tahu apa namanya lps tu lupa nak tanya. huhu

I tasted the Green Tea when they offered me in a small cup. My daughters ate some seaweed and yam crackers. Half an hour later, the lady who was incharged of the Ikebana demo arrived. Some of the other visitors were waiting for her too. "Kado" or "Ikebana" was developed by Sen-no-Rikyu in conjunction with the tea ceremony. (there was no tea ceremony as it should only be performed by the expert). There are over three thousand styles of flower arrangement in Japan! The lady (Tokoki) told us she chose the basic three dimensions arrangement. That means, the arrangement should face up to

three directions. The key was to keep it as simple as possible. We (the other visitors and I) had our chance to try when Tokoki gave us each a wet sponge in a clean yoghurt containers. I chose only two long leaves, two plants and a peach sunflower. I didn't had time to try the calligraphy or it is known as

"shodo". I could see some other visitors tried to write some characters on "washi" (Japanese paper). Again Hafizah was already tired by the time I finished doing my Ikebana. We had to leave the place and thank all the Japanese ladies who were so kind to let us learnt and tried the crafts and their food. 

I just wish I could attend tomorrow's event as there will be some cooking demonstration from Middle
East Women. But we normally stay at home on Friday because my hubby will use the car to go to the mosque for Friday prayer and then do our weekly shopping.

Sambut tapi tak tahu kenapa org sambut. isk3x (BM entry)

Salam,
         
Hr ni sy hanya nak berkongsi apa yg berlaku di playcentre. Sepatutnya sy tinggalkan Fathini hr ni krn setiap Rabu ialah sesi untuk kanak2 berumur 3 1/2 thn ke atas. Kebanyakan kanak2 ditinggalkan oleh ibu2 mereka.

Bila sy sampai hr ni, apa yg sy perasan kesemua yg bertugas hr ni memakai pakaian berwarna hijau. Sy sebenarnya dpt mengagak kenapa tapi sy ambil keputusan untuk bertanya. Bila sy tanya pd Puan Q, mmg sahlah mereka pakai pakaian berwarna hijau sempena "St. Patrick's Day" yg jatuh pd hr ini 17 Mac.

Mereka juga ada melukis pd pipi mereka daun "Shamrock". Sy pun bertanya lg pada Puan Q kalau2
Puan Q. tahu tak kenapa org2 Ireland menyambut perayaan tersebut. Puan Q. hanya mengeleng2kan
kepala. Sy pula yg menerangkan dgn lebih lanjut kenapa perayaan tersebut disambut.

Macammana sy tahu? Sy sudah terlebih dahulu menyiasat asal usul perayaan ni. Kat mana siasat?
Mana lg kalau tak tanya En. Wikipedia. Secara ringkasnya, org2 Ireland atau org2 yg berketurunan Irish,mengingati Saint mereka. Biasanya mereka akan mengadakan perarakan atau minum2 di bar dan memakai pakaian bewarna hijau. Daun "Shamrock" pula digunakan sbb ia melambangkan konsep
"Trinity" yg mereka percaya.

Bila sy dah habis terangkan pjg lebar, Puan Q. hanya tersenyum dan cakap "macam2 benda boleh kita cari kat internet ye". Isk3x. Sebenarnya sy tak kisah sgt dgn apa yg mereka buat sbb mereka tak pun suruh budak2 ikut apa yg mereka buat. Budak2 pun tak faham kenapa mereka pakai baju hijau dan
buat2 kraf semua guna kertas hijau hr ni.

Tapi sy perlu tahu juga sbb takut2 Fathini yg dah semakin cerdik ni tanya. Skrg pun kalau tak tahu nak jawab soalan2 dia, sy ajak dia cari kat internet. Kalau anda semua nak tahu apa itu "St. Patrick's Day", bolehla baca kat sini.

Introducing my new blog.....

Salam to all,
                  Yesterday, I spent the whole afternoon thinking and creating my new blog. In my new
year resolutions, one of my resolution was to open a blogshop. So, this is kind of blogshop but I'm not
selling anything. I'm offering translating services (BM-English or vice versa), proofreading and other related services. I was not so confident to do this before even though my brother, Pein had suggested
that I should do this since last year. After some encouragements from my family members and also from Ustaz Cahaya (who asked for my help to translate his articles for MBP), now I want to venture
into this. I didn't put the price as for me it depends on the job and I always open for negotiation.

                  So, wish me luck and pray for me please. I wish this could open more opportunities for me.
The link to my new blog is(thanks to one of the readers who pointed up my spelling mistake):
http://yourpersonalinterpreter.blogspot.com

Do you live like nomadic people? Well, I do!

Salam to all,

It's been two days since I last posted an entry. We were so busy when we received few invitations from our friends. bukan kenduri kawin ye sbb kat sini kebanyakan Msian dah kawin, yg bujang pun nak kawin kena balik Msia dulu Our friends had invited us over to their repected houses as we are leaving soon and they wanted to have a nice long chat with us. It had also given us some opportunities to ask them if they would like to buy some of our stuffs. The result was pleasing because right now some of them are interested in our electrical appliances and we also got someone who wants to buy our used car.

Right. I don't want to beat around the bush and then forget about the title. I've been thinking about writing on this topic few weeks ago. Why did I choose to talk about nomadic people? Let's find out.

(Thanks to Mr Google for the photo)

Nomadic people (or nomads) are people who move from place to place, rather than living in one place. The best known examples of nomads are gypsies, Roma, Sinti and Irish travellers. Many other ethnic groups and communities are traditionally nomadic; such as Berbers, Kazakhs, Samis and Bedouin.
People are nomads for many reasons. Most nomads are husbandmen herding their livestock, such as cattle, horses or reindeer from pasture to pasture. These people have to change places according to the weather. Other nomads are traders and craftsmen (people who make things) traveling to exchange goods or to practice their craft where it is needed.
Nomads who follow their herds usually live in movable dwellings with few things inside, like Mongols. Nomads who trade or practice crafts usually have wagons in which they travel, because wagons are better for carrying goods.

(source: Wikipedia)

I reckon I've been experiencing living like Nomadic People because I moved from place to place to live. Though my nomadic reasons are not the same reasons as theirs. My reasons were following my
abah (father) who changed his jobs from one company to another, I had to changed my secondary schools about three times bukan sbb kena buang sekolah tau and I had to quit my first job and lived with my hubby under one roof.

Since I was a baby, my abah brought us (my late mum and my brother) to live in Terengganu (M'sia) for 2 years. Then we moved to back to Kelantan (Msia). We lived in Kota Bharu until I was 4. We moved again to Kubang Kerian. I spent most of my childhood to mid teenage years in Kubang Kerian because we stayed there until I was 15. In 1993 just before I could sit for my PMR exam (a public examination in Malaysia), my abah had to be transfered to Meru, Klang. My younger sister and one of my brother had to stay with me until I finished my examination. My uncle and his wife were our guardians and we stayed in our house(I'm talking abt Kubang Kerian house) until my examination ended. During the school holidays my younger siblings moved to Meru but I had to stay at my grandparents house until I received my result. I also didn't want to change school until I was sure about the result. So, I had to stay for about a month at my old school (SMU A Amir Indra Putra) in Bachok, Kelantan. When I got the PMR result, I was thrilled because not long after that I received
an offer from one of the SBP (one of Residential Schools in Msia). sebenarnya nak lari dr kena ambik
SMU -sijil menengah ugama. masa tu rasa tak mampu nak menghafal banyak2 dah. huhu

From 1994-1995, I basically lived with my friends in SMSAH (aka Jenan). I only saw my family during the school holidays. By 1995, my family again moved from Meru, Klang to Bukit Mertajam, Penang. They lived there until the end of 1997. After my SPM (another public exam in Msia), I got the offer to futher my study in TESL. It was a twin program between PPP/ITM and UKM.

To cut the story short, takut pjg2 kan boring dan mengantuk pulak org baca, hehe I didn't spend too
long waiting to start my first job after my graduation. I applied the job as an English teacher in USM.
By August 2001, after two weeks of my graduation, I started my first job. I stayed there until at the end of 2005. Yup, I moved again to Selangor because my hubby was attached to UPM and we didn't want our eldest daughter growing up without really knowing her papa(my hubby). We stayed there until my hubby received an offer to further his study (in PHD) in University Of Waikato, New Zealand.

Now, here we are living in a foreign country and yet we know it's a temporary thing. At least it's a long period of temporary thing. By the end of next month, we are going back for good to our beloved country; Malaysia. And if you are wondering, yes we really miss Malaysia and of course our extended
family members there. We can't wait to go back!

How about you? Have you ever experienced living like nomadic people? If so, how was it? Do you like it? What was/were your reason/reasons?

Keputusan SPM 2009: Tahniah untuk adik2 dan guru2 semua lebih2 lagi untuk rakan2 saya.(Bm entry)

 Salam,

Dalam entri kali ini saya hanya ingin mengucapkan tahniah untuk adik2 yg mendapat keputusan yg baik dan cemerlang dlm SPM 2009. Tahniah juga untuk guru2 mereka semua. Bila saya buka "mukabuku" (FB) hari ni, saya nampak rakan2 TESL yg bertugas sbg guru Bahasa Inggeris menulis ucapan tahniah di ruangan status mereka untuk pelajar2 mereka. Saya hanya mampu tumpang berbangga dgn kejayaan mereka. Saya yg hanya sempat merasa bertugas sebagai guru sekolah sewaktu di tahun kedua akhir pengajian, memang tidak dapat betul2 merasa bagaimana gembiranya seorang guru apabila anak2 didiknya berjaya. Yelah, dia sudah bertungkus lumus membantu anak2 didiknya sebelum itu. Guru2 juga setiap tahun akan merasa berdebar apabila keputusan akan diumumkan.

Arwah ma saya juga seorang guru sekolah yg pernah mengajar Sains dan Matematik berbelas2 thn dan lebih kurang 10 thn sblm akhir hayatnya, mengajar subjek Bahasa Inggeris. Saya membesar dengan melihat bagaimana seorang guru yg sentiasa memikirkan anak2 didiknya. Yg peliknya arwah ma selalu mengakui yg dia agak kurang sabar jika cuba mengajar anak2 sendiri. Tetapi kalau mengajar anak2 didiknya, dia akan lebih bersabar.

Pengalaman saya sendiri sewaktu mengambil keputusan SPM (sy ambil thn 1995)? Hmmm saya hanya menelefon ke sekolah untuk mengetahui keputusan saya. Kenapa? Saya bersekolah di SMSAH (atau nama popular Jenan) dan waktu itu saya tinggal di Bukit Mertajam. Jadi oleh kerana waktu itu agak susah untuk saya pergi sendiri ke sekolah, saya hanya guna telefon saja. Keputusannya? Taklah cermerlang cuma bolehla dan sebenarnya saya dapa mengagak. Arwah ma agak kecewa dan saya merasa bersalah kerana tidak berusaha bersungguh2. Abah saya pula bersikap positif dan menyuruh saya fokus pada matapelajaran yg mana keputusannya agak tinggi. Dan sememangnya saya cenderung lebih ke arah bahasa dan saya mencapai keputusan yg baik dlm matapelajaran Bahasa Inggeris. Sebab itulah abah saya menyuruh saya meneruskan pelajaran dlm TESL.

Ada satu pesanan untuk adik2 yg baru mendapat keputusan SPM, baik yg cemerlang, sederhana atau
mungkin kurang baik. SPM bukanlah penentu kejayaan masa depan kerana jika adik2 sudah berpuas hati dgn SPM sahaja, apabila adik2 masuk ke peringkat universiti, adik2 akan mengalami kejutan budaya. Kenapa? Apabil adi peringkat universiti, adik2 perlu berusaha sendiri jika mahu mendapat keputusan cemerlang. Pensyarah2 semua hanya dapat memberi panduan tetapi yg lain2nya terserah pada adik2 sendiri. Untuk yang kurang berjaya, adik2 boleh mencari peluang2 belajar dlm bidang lain kerana untuk berjaya bukan sahaja dalam budang akademik. Ada banyak lagi bidang2 lain seperti bidang2 kemahiran yg memerlukan tenaga adik2 semua.

Ok, rasanya dah panjang lebar sangat ni. Tahun depan saya pula akan tumpang berdebar untuk adik bongsu lelaki yg akan menduduki SPM tahun ini. Harap2 adik saya akan berusaha bersungguh2.

Mr. Mood, please come to me!

Salam to all,
                 I'm not really in a mood to write anything. But I reckon I should just tell why. My brain is
so consumed with the fact that we are going back to Malaysia for good after 3 years. We are currently
busy making the list of our things to be sold or to let go of certain things. I'm busy thinking and doing the research in how to set up a blog offering translation  & proof reading services. Plus I'm still considering about whether I should take up a part time job or not once we go back to Malaysia. That's why Mr. Mood is not the house now. He's hiding from me since I have to consider about 1001 things now. huhu

CV (Curriculum Vitae) of a SAHM?

Salam to all,

Lately I'm busy trying to google some part suitable part time jobs on the internet. It somehow reminded
me that I must have a new CV if I want to apply a job. Hmmmm. The last time I applied a job was about 5 years ago! And I almost forgot how to write a CV even though I used to teach my ex-students on how to write a good CV.

Somehow I got an idea of trying to write up a CV of a SAHM. Well, why not. Since I reckon being
a SAHM, WAHM or SOHO, we can have a CV to show other people our qualifications, abilities, skills and experiences.

All right. Let's take a look at a sample of a CV and then we compare it with my version of SAHM CV.

Sample Curriculum Vitae - Academic
John Smith Street, City, State, Zip Phone: 555-555-5555 Cell: 555-666-6666 email@email.com Objective: Assistant Professor, Psychology Education: Ph.D., Psychology, University of Minnesota, 2006 Concentrations: Psychology, Community Psychology Dissertation: A Study of Learning Disabled Children in a Low Income Community M.A., Psychology, University at Albany, 2003 Concentrations: Psychology, Special Education Thesis: Communication Skills of Learning Disabled Children B.A, Psychology, California State University, Long Beach, CA, 2000 Experience: Instructor, 2004 - 2006 University of Minnesota Course: Psychology in the Classroom Teaching Assistant, 2002 - 2003 University at Albany Courses: Special Education, Learning Disabilities Research Skills: Extensive knowledge of SPSSX and SAS statistical programs. Presentations: Smith John (2006). The behavior of learning disabled adolescents in the classrooms. Paper presented at the Psychology Conference at the University of Minnesota. Publications: Smith, John (2005). The behavior of learning disabled adolescents in the classroom. Journal of Educational Psychology, 120 - 125. Grants and Fellowships: RDB Grant (University of Minnesota Research Grant, 2005), $2000 Workshop Grant (for ASPA meeting in New York, 2004), $1500 Awards and Honors: Treldar Scholar, 2005 Academic Excellent Award, 2003 Skills and Qualifications: Microsoft Office, Internet Programming ability in C++ and PHP Fluent in German, French and Spanish References: Excellent references available upon request.  Now let's see my attempt. hehe SAMPLE CURRICULUM VITAE OF A STAY AT HOME MOM: ______________________________________________________________________________________________  Puan Markonah Muda Your own choice Street,  Not heaven City,  Your Own Territory State, 02010, Mobile no: 000-222 44556 E-mail: sahm@mymail.com Objective: Stay At Home Mom Education: Ph. D. in Every Single Details at Home. M.A. in Cooking & Doing Household Chores B. Ed. in teaching children Experiences: Being a Mom since 5 years ago Being a wife since 7 years ago Related Skills: Moderate skills in cooking A competent mommy  A good wife A perfectionist in doing household chores __________________________________________________________________________________________ How about that? Was it a nice attempt? I would like to see if other SAHM or WAHM or SOHO or FTWM would like to  write up a CV like that or maybe a very extensive one! hehe. Of course we don't need any CV to apply for all the jobs  that I've mentioned just now. However, it would be good to see if we can really put it on paper and see. Maybe who  knows you can print up your CV and frame it and put it in a special place in your house! How about that?  Is it a good idea? If you are interested to do an entry about this, please tell me so. I would be happy to see and read it.

It's not FARMVILLE but.............

Salam to all,

@9 a.m.

Tini: Mama, where are we going today? Are we going to FARMVILLE?
Me: Huh! (then I smile). No sayang. (honey). We are going to Paulownia Park to see real farm animals.
      FARMVILLE is just a computer game.
nilah bahananya kalau mak dia dok buang masa layan FV kat FB. huhu.

Actually this morning, we went for a trip to Paulownia Park which was not very far from the playcentre.
It was our second time there as we went there in November 2008. I was still excited to bring my kids there as I reckoned the experiences would be different.

When we arrived, Tini and Hafizah spotted few ponies and straight away went near the fence. The ponies were busy eating hays and out of the blue, one of the ponies, gave us some "lovely" saliva spray! We had to leave the ponies alone and moved to a well. I thought it was only a well, but it was actually an aquarium that contained some fish, plants and rocks.

Before we started the farm visit, we had to gather around the farmers; Farmer John and Farmer Megan. (they were our guides) Farmer John explained some things that we had to do when we see the animals. He also asked us to sing some songs, "I have the pony ears" (it's a signal for the kids to listen
to adults instructions) and "We will rock you" (a song for the pony show at the end of the visit).

Farmer John then invited kids 3 yrs and above to go for a hay ride behind his tractor. Fathini joined the big kids and couple of other mums for the ride. The last time we went there, Fathini rode on the 

hay ride with her "maksu" (her aunt). She was still excited to ride on it this time bcs she's bigger and

she's find by herself. The rest of other mums and little kids and babies had to follow Farmer Megan 

to see and feed the ducks. I thought that Hafizah would be okay and excited to feed the ducks. But I was wrong because once we were inside the fence and the ducks were coming at us, she started to scream and cry. So, we had to go out and just watched the other kids and other mommies feeding the ducks. When Fathini and the other big kids joined us there, I asked Fathini to go inside to feed some ducks. She was so brave (maybe bcs she's older than Hafizah) and she fed some ducks and was happy to have the experiences. 

The next animals that we went to see and feed were goats. Three not so little goats were quite gentle and I also had the chance to feed them. (unfortunately my friend only snapped  a photo of my hands feeding a goat.huhu). Fathini again didn't hesitate to feed the goats and she even asked the pellets (goat's food) from Farmer Megan few times. After the goats, we spent some time with the chickens.
Hafizah and I were the only ones staying outside bcs Hafizah didn't want to go inside. I managed to
take some photos of Fathini feeding the chickens. Farmer John also showed us the different eggs from
different hens. He made a joke too when he asked us why there's no egg from one chicken. We didn't really paid attention until Farmer John said "Of course there's no egg bcs chicken "A" (I can't remember the name given by Farmer John) is actually a Rooster!". By 10.30 a.m., some of the kids
started to feel hungry. So, Farmer Megan suggested that we had to take a break and had our morning tea. While Farmer John invited little kids with their mums to hop on the hay ride for the second trip.
I asked my friend Dug, to keep on eye on Fathini while I had to accompany Hafizah on the hay ride.
sebenarnya mama Fizah yg lebih2 nak naik hay ride tu.ehehehe. nasib baik Tini tak kisah dan dia tahu nak cari mana lunchbox dia.

At the beginning of the ride, there was Anna who wanted to come along but her mom was not so keen. She asked me to take care of Anna and I didn't mind at all. However, after only 2 minutes on the ride, she started to cry. Farmer John had to stop to take Anna out of the ride. She was happy again once she was returned to her mom. Farmer John continued to drive the tractor and he brought us along very bumpy road. Along the way, I had couple of photos taken. We also had some music bcs Farmer John gave us a small tool (look like MP3 but it was not) that has a button. When we pressed the button, there's some music.

We returned to our first gathering spot and we could see the others were having their morning tea. 

I found Fathini had already had her yoghurt. While we were eating our morning tea, I didn't take any photos as I was busy helping Hafizah to have her food. I shared the curry puffs with some of my friends. They loved it. (again no photos) dah karipap buatan sendiri tu sgtla tak fotogenik rupanya.hehe It was not long after the morning tea, we were brought to one more spot where we could feed cows. The cows here were a different breed from the other cows that we normally see

here in Hamilton. Fathini helped herself to the hay after Farmer John asked the kids to get some hay and feed the cows. Some kids couldn't wait for the cows to come and they just ditched the hay. Hafizah once again was just being the observer.

The last and the highlight of the visit was the "Pony Show". We were able to see three little ponies

performed some tricks. We had to watch outside of the arena as the ponies needed some spaces to

move around and they were quite fast. The ponies were originally from Timor Leste. That's why one 

of the ponies was named "Janna". Some of the tricks were walking on its two feet and we had to sing 

"We wil rock you", Janna also wore her own sunglasses and running around the arena. By the end of the show, most of the kids were restless especially the babies and toddlers as it was their nap time. 

We certainly gained other experiences this time and I was glad that Fathini had the chances to be

up close to the farm animals.