A holiday at home...

Who says we have to go away to be on a holiday...

I just spent 4 days of a holiday at home... and that was just what I needed... a break to recharge my battery to face the weeks ahead...

When I say a break... I really mean a break... from everything... all I did was watched TV, checked on my FB every few minutes and just lay down reading... oh... and did a lot of catching up on my lost sleep...

I didnt even cook, I just went out to eat outside when it was time to eat... needless to say my kids were also enjoying it... (3 of them only, the littlest 2 followed their daddy balik kg).

I began my holiday Saturday morning with a breakfast with my "breakfast club" buddies at UiTM hotel... SMZ, AR and NAB... it was really nice meeting good old friends... we have been friends for over 15 years now, and wish that our friendship will last our lifetime...

Lunch that day was at Cili Merah, the most convenient meal (bfast, lunch as well as dinner) provider for me... about 5 minutes drive from home... eh, I just realised that I had lunch at the same restaurant 3 days in a row... (except yesterday I went to the Section 9 outlet...).

Last night I drove to Kuala Selangor to have ikan bakar at Medan Selera Pantai Remis... no pics, because noone remembered to take a camera along because the dinner trip was not planned at all. I originally wanted to take the kids to a movie but found there was no movie interesting enough to watch... so we got into the car and decided at the spur of the moment to go to Kuala Selangor instead...

And this morning while checking on my FB, a student posted this photo... I thought I looked good in the photo, so I'm posting it here... hehe...

Pre-graduation Dinner 2009 (forgot the exact date)

Hm... the holiday is not over yet... I still have about 18 hours left... so, I'm going to continue enjoying it... :)

A hectic week last week...

Last week was really hectic...

1. Amin got accepted to SMT Sepang (told in previous entry).

2. MQA visit on Tuesday and Wednesday - a meeting that I could not possibly escape from. And poor Amin had to ask his daddy to send him to his school that Tuesday. That meeting went well and we got the accreditation (it was a renewal accreditation actually) - I didnt expect any issues to crop up because I hv been rather seasoned in handling MQA accreditation visits. But the SOP says the HOD must be around... what to do... anak important, keje pun important... of course of different plateau... I explained to Amin and I think he understood...

3. I thought after the MQA visit, I could relax a bit before another week of series of examination board meetings next week... but what do you know... something came up... one of my staff informed me that a lecturer has been warded since Tuesday and she was supposed to do a supervisory visit to a practical student in JB. And since Monday (8 February) is the last day of the practical training for the current batch, I had no choice but to go in her place... Adoi adoi adoi... I drove to JB Thursday night and arrived there around 1am. The next morning, I just slept in till check out time and went to the meeting at 2pm. (I took Mia, Aqim and Nabil with me...)

Some photos that we took in JB:

Mia at JB Waterfront

Aqim and Nabil: Persada - they took photos of each other while waiting for me outside the office (Johor Corp) where I had the meeting (really professional ha? bawa anak pegi meeting... hehe)

The hotel we stayed in - belongs to Johor Corp group

Views from the hotel

View of the pool (on 11th floor) from our room (24th floor)

It was raining really heavily when we left JB... we drove by Danga Bay but couldnt take any photos because of the pouring rain.

4. On the way back from JB, I stopped to pay a courtesy visit to my parents in law in Pagoh. The last time I saw them was last raya puasa. They were "genuinely" happy to see me and my 3 kids and I am glad I made that stop. They no more tried to "sweet talk" me into dropping my suit against their son. Terimakasih Mak and Bapak kerana memahami... insyaallah saya tak akan putuskan kasih antara anak-anak saya dan keluarga mereka sebelah Johor ni...

My MIL (with Aqim behind her rubbing her shoulder) - the baby is my BIL's son

5. We left Pagoh at around 10pm, despite my MIL's and FIL's request for us to sleep there - I couldnt even if I wanted to because Mia had her Hari Anugerah Cemerlang the next day. And as we approached Seremban, one of the directors sent a text asking me to conduct interviews for 30 scholarship candidates the next day (Saturday)... and I couldnt say no... So, Saturday morning was gone... and I had to apologise to Mia for not being able to see her receive her award... but then again, this girl of mine received awards every year from both primary schools and sekolah agama... Congrats Mia!!!

6. Saturday afternoon, I went to visit Amin at his school in Sepang... but not before a quick shopping to buy some other things that he needed...

What a week... today... mulanya malas nak masak... but kesian pulak dengan budak2 4 org ni... so, lunch for today was rendang pedas ketam and mixed vege... teringat kat Amin, tapi tak larat dah nak drive to see him today... I really need today to rest, or I may pengsan next week....

Amin is now in a boarding school...

Last Sunday (31 January) Amin received the offer letter that he had been waiting for all week - acceptance to SMT Sepang - the only boarding school that he applied to (he got B for Science and that made him not qualified for SMSains or MRSM).

It was raining that Sunday and rainy days always depress me (but that another story...)... when the rain subsided, I took a peek outside and saw a large white envelop in the mailbox. I went out to get it and saw the school logo on the envelope... and called out to Amin... "Amin!! The letter that you've been waiting for is here!!!"

I thought the fact that the letter arrived on Sunday and at 6pm was rather odd - do postmen deliver on Sunday? The stamp on the envelope said 26 January. Plus... it had been raining... but the envelope was not wet at all, despite the oversized envelope (part of it terkeluar dari my red mailbox)... Hm... one of these days I'm going to report the mail theft that has been going on since we moved in here in Oct 2008...

Anyway... the letter said Amin must register the next day... adoi... what a mother to do... the boy was so excited, he performed the victory war and couldnt stop smiling... so, I took him shopping immediately to buy all things that have been listed in the offer letter... I spent almost 1k in about 3 hours...

That night while packing his bag, I remembered the night that my mom packed my bag before I went to a boarding school in Ipoh... she cried and said "Ani, kalau tak seronok kat sana, cakap tau... nanti mak suruh apak ambik Ani... tak pe... mak dengan apak tak marah...". kenangan mengusik jiwa... my tears fell that night, not just because my Amin was going away... but also because of teringatkan arwah mak...

However, Amin only went to register on Tuesday because we needed that Monday to prepare the documents needed during the registration - his sijil berhenti sekolah, signatures of his school principal, pengesahan parents' gaji, and the like...

And since I had MQA visit for my program on Tuesday and Wednesday I had to ask a favour from his daddy, as much as I hated doing that, I'd hate myself even more breaking my son's heart. The boy was so excited, he couldnt wait another day, let alone another week. I had no choice...

The house has been significantly quieter after that... hm... even Nabil said this "boring la tak ada Amin... tak ada org nak gaduh dengan Nabil..."

Yesterday I went to visit him. He looked thinner - he has always been thin and I honestly didnt think that he could be any thinner... he complained about the food, and the strict rules... hahaha... teringat zaman kita dulu... I told him to hang in there... it takes time to be accustomed to new things...