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!