Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Road trip

3 more days to our road trip and there is so much more that needs to be done! Most importantly is the roadtax for the van! I hope Iskandar sorts that out by today. I'm still chasing this maid agent for our refund. I hate how they are always trying to delay the payment, when if its the other way round, they will not give you an extra day's delay in paying up. Bastards really.

Anyway, I'm so excited for this trip and can't wait to get on the road. It's been many many many years since I've experienced xmas at Singapore and I still remember how beautiful it was!I know, i know its not really much of a "dream vacation" but mostly, I'm just glad to get away with my little family. It was a pretty last minute decision too and Singapore seems like the best and closest destination.

We plan to stop by the JPO to see what its all about, since its along the way anyway. I'm only aiming for the Ferragamo outlet je. perhaps get some stuff for the kids too. They are outgrowing their clothes so fast!

BUT, until then, there's a lot of things on my plate i need to clear. I have another survey at KLIA and Cyberjaya. not forgetting the pile of ironing that needs to be done...sigh..seems like I've been on laundry duty FOREVER.

Thursday, December 08, 2011

Just so you know

It’s been a while since the last entry. Honestly, there hasn’t been much happening lately other than the usual maid dramas, sick kids, travels, school problems ..normal stuff. But I think for the sake of keeping the blog current, let me just briefly cerita the significant going-ons in my life since the last update..

Went for my first offshore platform visit which was awesome! The anticipation and anxiety leading to the trip was so nerve-wrecking though, since it was scheduled to be right smack in the mid of the stormy monsoon season. It rained heavily at the airport all morning and the flight was postponed several times. But in the end, the journey there and back couldn’t be more smooth. Perfect weather, perfect flight, everything went perfect. The platform itself could be better though. To quote James who came with me, “It’s like living in a house with a 100 teenage boys”.

Imran’s school dilemma. We took Imran for a second meeting with Mutiara Intl school, this time it’s Imran alone with the principal. The meeting went well I suppose, the principal was quite entertained with the meeting. While waiting for him, I sneaked around the corridors, just to see the kids and the classrooms sessions. And the difference between this and what I went through in school was tremendous. Maybe I’m just not used to seeing kids being so vocal and loud, confident too. They speak with their slangs and all and you can tell that these kids come from very, very rich families. At that moment I sort of fear on what this could do to a simple Malay boy like Imran. The parent in me is sort of torn between the Western style and the local style of educating. As much as I want him to be a bright, confident child, I do need to make sure he is well educated and can fit in wherever he goes. The kids at Mutiara I saw were 99% foreign kids and it worries me that Imran will be trapped in a clash of cultures and peer pressure. No doubt the curriculum is fantastic and they do make sure kids have a healthy balance of class, arts & craft, sports but at the end of the day, we still live in Malaysia and our culture and theirs are two separate worlds. I fear that Imran will have a tough time adapting to the differences, being so young. And with the staggering fees the school demands year upon year, it is just not worth our time worrying. So after much thought, we decided to stick with the public school and perhaps enroll him into creative classes outside of school, whatever interests him, just so he mixes around with the local KBSR kids as well as the other middle/upper class kids at the private extra classes. I do hope we made the right decision coz I still feel tak sedap hati..

The next week onwards will be interesting for all of us. Imran will be going on a school camp for 3 days which I hope he will enjoy after being stuck at home for the past coupla months. I’ll be traveling a bit to Kedah and for the weekend, we will all pack up n go for a quick getaway to PD..and the week after that we will drive further down to Singapore to spend the Christmas hols. Yes..quite a lot of spending is anticipated and hopefully we will have enough in the bank to last til the next paycheck!