korea - cerita lama

2 hari lepas kami naik LRT ke ofis. Mula-mula ambik STAR sampai ke Masjid Jamek. Lepas tu cadangnya nak ambik PUTRA, tapi sudahnya naik teksi. Teringat masa kat Korea, memang impressive diorang punya train network. Kat atas tanah memang dah sesak. Sesak dengan bangunan. Sesak dengan kenderaan. Dia punya jam tu macam KL jugak. They have 8 providers. Setiap satu ada color sendiri, merah ke, hijau ke, biru ke. Mostly underground. Bukan setakat kat dalam bandar tu sendiri, outskirt pun ada servise. Cumanya kena pandai-pandai nak transit dan segalanya. Masalah kami masa kat sana yang paling besar ialah bahasa. Kami tak sure nak turun ke tidak untuk transit, malangnya tak ada orang boleh tolong. We spoke in English, they spoke back in Korean.

their train network

Sometimes, eventho kita tak bercakap dengan diorang pun, they speak Korean to us. Of course kami di ajar basic like ‘Salam Sejahtera’ (Anyong haseyo – they have only one phrase for good morning, good night, good day), ‘how much’ (alma-eyo), ‘boleh kurang tak?’ (kakasuseyo), ‘sarangheyo’ (the ‘g’ tu cam silent sikit, means I love you). Through shopping, we discovered ‘ipoyo’ (beautiful) and they like to add ‘e’ to the end of some words like ‘pinkk-e’ for pink, ‘handdbaggg-e’ for handbag or ‘carrrddd-e’ for card. And they use yards as measure. I went to Dongdaemun to look for Korean silk. Tempat yang sama jual lace. Canttikkkkkkkkkk!! Sesapa yang suka ala-ala Victorian yang lace sana-sini tu, you’ll gawk at their collections. Masa kami dok beli-belah tu, nampak diorang tengah dok design pattern kat lace-lace tu. I bought 3 sets of 3yards for well, .. err… God Knows what. Kalau shopping mopping ni, calculator does wonders. You nak bargain ke, apa ke, guna calculator (they say it as karrrkuuratorrr). Also sold upholstery fabric yang memang cantik-cantik. They have quilted fabric that you can buy by yards and turn it into whatever you want. If only I bring more money masa tu, harus kena beli bag lain untuk bawak balik barang-barang!

lace.. lace.. lace...

Well, this year kami plan nak ke Jakarta tapi tak confirm lagi. Nak kena jaga-jaga cuti sebab anak-anak selalu sakit PLUS, nak kena tampung balik yang dah belanja-belanja kat Korea hari tu. Nak buat passport budak gonek 2 orang tu je dah RM600.00 kan. Kalau dah ke Jakarta tu, for sure akan shopping-mopping jugak kan. Kalau keadaan tak mengizinkan, mungkin kami ke Langkawi ataupun ke Cameron Highland saja. Yang pastinya, agenda pegi bercuti bersama keluarga harus dibuat tahun 2007. Dah lama sangat nak bawak anak-anak jalan-jalan.

Okie dokie. Nanti kita sambung lagi.

lapan belasssss.....

ADUHH… sabar.. sabar… (*LAPAN BELASSSSS…)

Pagi-pagi lagi dah kena. Yang rasa terkilan tu dek sebab orang lain yang tak simpan info yang memang sentiasa dia dapat, kita pulak yang kena. Saya faham orang yang marah-marah tu. Ye lah, kalau memang dia hantar info everytime, kita pulak mintak lagi, mana tak marahkan. Kena pulak tengah banyak kerja. Kalau saya jadi dia pun saya marah. Yang tak acinya, yang dimarahkan ialah saya, orang yang tak berapa kena-mengena! Sabarr ummi,.. sabarrr…..

Semalam terlewat ke ofis. Kereta buat hal. Ada bunyi ngittttttt, ngitttttttt, ngittttttt, as if someone is grinding metals. Langsung hantar ke workshop di Pandan sebelum ke ofis. Mamat workshop tu hantar kami ke LRT station. Mdh ambik keta masa lunch. Bercerita pasal kereta ni, jangan tak tau suami saya dah tolong buatkan azam 2007 untuk saya! By end 2007, I, must own and drive my own car. Sebenarnya dah lama kami nakkan 2nd car. Kereta kecik yang tak makan minyak banyak sangat. Tahun depan tol naik lagi kan. Bab tol ni mmg tak boleh nak buat apa, keta kecik ke, besar ke, cajnya sama je. At least dapat kurangkan belanja minyak, kira oraitlah jugak kan. Back to our angan-angan tu, dah banyak kali tertangguh sebab I am not financially-fit. Duit tu ada cuma kalau kena tambah satu lagi installment, tak berapa ‘selesa’. Nak kena reserve jugak untuk contingency dan untuk ‘entertainment’! Ye lah, sekali sekala nak jugak bawak anak-anak ke McD. Ni pun tak lama lagi ada installment yang akan habis (insyaAllah, so bolehlah dihalakan duit tu ke situ). Any suggestion? Kriterianya:-

:: brand new.
:: harganya tak boleh lebih RM45k.
:: economical fuel consumption (obviously keta yang lagi satu tu akan rest kat rumah. We’ll be driving the new car to-fro work)
:: small (saya yang akan drive keta tu, kenalah sesuwaaiii dengan saiz saya nih!). lagipun mesti fit nicely dalam porch kami.

Kami dok terfikirkan Savvy. Yaaa,.. kereta yang nampak agak pelik tu. Lain-lain termasuklah MyVi dan Kelisa dan Suria. But nothing is definite yet. Yang pasti bukanlah cap-cap luar Malaysia,.. tak mampu bebb!! I just hope I can own one tak lama lagi.

* kisah LAPAN BELASSS ni nanti saya ceritakan kemudian ya…

cerita bergambar + 5 things

Sharing a few photos I managed to snap during our recent stay in APSH, before the battery went totally dead. I have a few in my hp, unfortunately my pc doesn’t have that ‘gigibiru’ facility, hence I couldn’t download them.

kakak registering herself at the admission counter. seen together with abah

interframe - jeans kelipkelap I bought in Namdaemun, Korea

pekerjaan si Muhammad Iman

lagi pekerjaan si Muhamad Iman

Anyway, let’s us bore ourselves with my ‘5’ things. KakZ, I sincerely think and feel my answers are all boring and uninteresting. But anyway, here goes..

5 things i would like to do if i were a millionaire:
1. Pay-off all debts including that of my parents. Tho there’s not much under my belt (sepadanlah dengan gajiku) but to langsaikan a bit here and there would be a relief to me.

2. Build welfare homes for the needy or start-up a project where they can benefit financially from it.

3. Pegi haji with my family.

4. Build a small but perfect home on a piece of land not in KL, outskirt maybe. A room for everyone with a surau, a small reading room cum library, a taman with a little pondok and a big-big kitchen.

5. Buy a small car for myself perhaps?

6. Air purifier for every inch of the house!


5 bad habits:
1. Shop at hearing rumors about bonus. Got plastic money what.. (bad baddddd badddd habit)

2. Suka lipat kaki atas kerusi bila makan.

3. Keep things which can’t be used anymore. Contohnya baju anak-anak. Sentimental values konon, sudahnya jadi sarang cik lipas. But I somehow grew that habit bit by bit. Some other kids can benefit from that rather than cik lipas sekelian.

4. Good at soothing myself when I overly shopped.

5. Procrastinate.


5 things i hate doing:
1. No ironing for me. I’d rather fork out some dough to send them to the laundry nearby.

2. Folding clothes especially those of my kids. The smaller the items, the harder it seems.

3. Follow-up-ing countless times after sending-off emails. Aiyohh, organizer ada sorang satu kan, company bagi kan.

4. Waiting for the suratkhabar man to sell-off suratkhabar lama but for the past months, they just don’t come. So, ada setambun suratkhabar lama tersadai in my porch.

5. Adjusting sewn clothing after stitching it sbb tersilap.


5 things i never do:
1. Buy original designer handbags.

2. Paint my house with warna-warna ceria (told you, I am boring)

3. Buy carved furniture (that is so not me.. PLUS, imagine the dust they’re gonna accumulate)

4. Wear shoes with heels more than 1.5inch.

5. Paint my lips red or pink.


5 things i regret doing:
1. Delaying pakai tudung until I was 20 I think.

2. Buy 2+3 sofa with dry-cleanable-only slipcovers (I later tried to wash them in the washing machine. They were all shrunk and the colors run a bit).

3. Yelled and told my gynea what to do when I was in labor room.

4. Let the rumput mutiara kat laman mati after a few months.

5. Not driving in KL until now.


5 fave toys or things:
1. Handphone. Going out without one is like going shopping without my under**** on. No one knows but I’ll be too conscious to the fact and start to act weird.

2. Camera. A good tools to keep memories alive, especially when you have kids.

3. Spec. I am almost blind without them.

4. Washing machine boleh ke? I can’t imagine myself without one when each kid wear like 4 pairs a day?

5. A kenji brooch, worn on my wedding day last 6+ years.

well, that's about it for today.

APSH episode V&VI 2006

I'm back. Biarlah takde house-keeping 2x sehari. Biarlah takde orang hantar food 4x sehari. Nothing beats home. We were in APSH 16-25 November 2006. Paid holiday, as some like to put it. It was an about RM12k holiday this time around!

Kisah tak berkesudahan..
Kalau nak dikira, tahun 2006 ni saja, kami anak-beranak 6 kali masuk hospital! Di mulakan dengan Iman yang cirit-birit sekitar February. Diikuti episode pneumonia dan URTI kakak dan Iman in July. Mdh warded in October sebab gastritis haemorrage. And baru-baru ni, kakak due to high-fever and Iman cirit-birit.

Kalau nak backtrack, bermula dari 2004 lagi, penghujung tahun sentiasa ditutup dengan kisah sakit. 2004 ditutup Iman yang kena jaundice berpanjangan, 2005 ditutup Iman yang kena pneumonia dan 2006 dek Iman yang cirit-birit dan Kakak yang demam panas.

Tapi saya tak mahu mengeluh. Itu anak-anak saya. Anak-anak yang saya mohon dari Allah dikurniakan kepada saya untuk disayangi dan dikasihi. Allah amanahkan anak-anak itu kepada saya dan suami. Saya bayangkan saudara kita di Palestin atau di Iraq, dugaan yang Allah hadapkan saya tiada apa-apa! Saya bayangkan kawan-kawan yang tiada cahaya mata sendiri walau sekian lama berumahtangga. Syukurlah.

Si sakit menjaga si sakit...
Dua hari setelah kakak dimasukkan ke hospital, Iman turut serta! Tak semena-mena dia muntah tak berhenti. Pagi-pagi buta (memang sungguh 'buta' sebab masa tu pukul 2 pagi!) mdh bawak dia ke A&E, terus hospitalised sama sebab takut dehydrate. Dahhhh.. dari sorang dah jadi dua. Demam kakak masih tak berubah. Bila kesan ubat habis, demam naik semula. Dari bilik single, kami berpindah ke double-bedded yang lebih besar. Dalam hati ni, biarkan aku sendiri yang sakit, bukan anak-anak. Allah Maha Mendengar. 2 hari kemudian, saya sendiri kena demam panas yang hampir mencecah 40d! 2 kali saya ke A&E malam-malam buta. Sekali kena caj RM100++ dan kali kedua RM200++ kerana buat blood-test! Dan 2 hari kemudiannya, saya kena cirit pula! Kali itu, saya sekadar memesan suami membeli pil chi kit tek aun saja! Dalam keadaan kami yang 'berjemaah' sakit, suami saya yang dah 'suam-suam' badannya terpaksa menggagahkan diri. Sesekali saya dan kakak di spongingnya waktu kami tidur.

Bertimpa-timpa!...
Suami saya pula kebetulannya wajib menghantar final paper untuk MBA. Last-last minute si professornya call, minta dibuat editing itu ini sebelum buat hardcover binding. Alhamdulillah bila siang demam saya kebah. Jadi dapatlah dia ke sana-sini membuat editing, printing dan finally, hantar untuk buat binding. (Kalau tiada aral, awal 2007 kami akan ke UTM Skudai untuk konvokesyen).

Iman, anak lelaki saya tu, memang lasak. Walaupun begitu, he 'scored' among the nurses. Senyumnya. Tingkahnya. Lakunya. Galaknya. Setiap kali doktor atau nurse masuk bilik, dialah yang paling sibuk 'mengandam' itu ini. Satu pagi semasa saya dalam bilik air, kedengaran berderaian pinggan mangkuk pecah. Dalam hati saya dah tau angkara siapa. Berterabur pinggan mangkuk kaca bersama dengan sarapan yang masih belum sempat dijamah. Iman oh Iman. Tengahari pada hari yang sama, dia dengan bangganya menunjukkan tangannya kepada saya. Makk aihh, terkejut saya sebab dia cabut balutan tangannya yang kena IV. Terkoteng-koteng tempat cucuk itu ditangannya. Berderau darah saya. Cepat-cepat saya pegang tangannya dan panggil nurse sebelum dia grab the whole thing and pull it out.

Pengakhiran...
Pada hari ke-7, barulah demam kakak kebah sedikit. Walaupun adakalanya tinggi, jarak antara 'serangan' semakin jauh. Pada masa itu, Iman dah 90% sembuh. Pada hari ke-8, demam kakak sekali sekala sahaja, dengan suhu 37.5d atau 37.7d sahaja. Pada hari ke-10, doktor benarkan kami pulang. alhamdulillah.

Penghargaan...
Terima kasih kepada yang meninggalkan komen/pesan/nasihat dalam entry blog ummi sebelum ini. Ada yang tak berjawab, minta maaf. KakZ, nanti saya try buat ye!

Terima kasih kepada yang datang menziarahi kami di APSH. Tak lupa juga yang bertanya khabar thru SMS dan yang memberi kata nasihat dan perangsang sewaktu kami gundah gulana. Kepada Semut yang menghantar email, terima kasih. Bila nak updet blog?

Kepada sang suami...
Terima kasih kerana menjaga kami 3 beranak walaupun you sibuk dengan paper MBA you masa tu. Sedar atau tidak, pengalaman sebegitu banyak mendewasakan kita. Mendekatkan kita dengan Allah. Menambahkan kasih sayang antara kita. Mengeratkan kita dengan anak-anak.

Kepada diri sendiri...
Lepas ni masuk ofis semula. Banyak back-log. Boss pulak asyik kirim salam je!

motherhood - joy and pain

Life is not always a bed of roses. I consider my life is beautiful. Nevertheless, being beautiful doesn't exclude pain and sorrow from the whole context. Take this for an example. Childbirth is painful. Motherhood is beautiful. They contradict, yet they complement.

The pain and sorrow part is back again into our life.

Kakak demam. It started back about a week ago. mild fever now and then. About 3 days ago, when the temparature shoot to 39d all of a sudden, we started to worry. And when the medications did just little help, we brought her to APSH yesterday. Did a blood test which turned out ok. We went back with nurofen, actifed, butilyn, zitromax and mulacolast. Since I wasn't on leave, she was sent to Atfal, afterwhich, about 1hr later, I got a distress call from Atfal. Motherly instinct told me to go back and fetch her home. I did. I took leave yesterday, which was supposed to be taken tomorrow in conjuction with Midvalley's J-Card day. Kita hanya merancang, huh. Last night she was still shivering with fever. Today mdh is on leave to look after her. Left with just 1 more annual leave, I have been toying with the idea of taking some more unpaid leave. See lahh how nanti.

Other than sharing the story-mory part of it, I want to give out some tips we've been adopting since we embarked the journey of parenthood: -

1. Have a thermometer at home. We used to have the strip-type at home but it did little good. Before we could conclude anything, the strip went out of place already. You may tell an adult to sit still while you read the temparature, but with kids, it takes lots of holding down and at times, yelling too. Then I redeemed a digital-type which gave doubtful readings. Finally, when I was financially better, I bought a Braun's. When the reading is 37.5d, it is borderline fever. When it is 38.5, it calls for an alert.

2. Do sponging and ensure the child is hydrated. Offer him/her sips of water from time to time. He/she may not feel like eating but try to console him/her into drinking. Bathe him/her in pleasantly lukewarm or cool water. No hot or cold.

3. Have medications ready at home. Be well informed on the dosage and 'when' you should give it to him/her. Hence, the importance of a thermometer, in case of fever. And be ready with 'ubat bo*to*'. Bila suhu cecah 38.5-39d, it helps to bring down the heat, fast.

4. In case of 'tarik'/fit, do not panic (easier said than done, I have to admit). Mandikan dia with cool water. Then bagi oral medication or ubat bo*o*. Go to clinic or hospital. Bring along a bottle of water. we never know ada traffic jam ke apa ke. At least we can still do sponging en-route to the clinic/hospital.

5. Like myself, my kids are sent to nursery when I'm working. It can be confusing with all sorts of ubat-ubatan, the dosage and all. I know certain nurseries are very systematic. They have forms and all to fill-up when it comes to leaving the trust to the care-giver, for giving medications. What i do is that I always write a note with kakak's or Iman's name on top. I go by timing rather than type. Example: -

NURUL ATHIRAH
8.00 a.m
~ nurofen
~ butilyn
~ actifed
~ mulacolast.
* -> 5ml
* -> mulacolast -> bancuh dengan segelas air

6. Inform the care-givers on the child allergies, of any.

7. And again, when you got a distress call, I know you feel like flying back home or honking the whole journey through. Stay calm, tell the care-givers what to do. In my case semalam, I told them to bathe her, wet her hair and rub wet towels on her body until we arrived.

I'm not saying I'm good. I just want to share what I learn through my exprience.

Bila dihadapkan dengan situasi-situasi unpleasant seperti ini, jangan mengeluh. Pasti ada hikmahnya. At least I am a wiser person than I was, ain't I?

kakak @tmn tasik permaisuri

blue-blacks we may be

I’m back!!

Short notes
:: Thanks to all well-wishes.
:: Yes Farra dear, Ummimon is indeed me. We’ve had meeting together before. I remember back in 2004, both of us were pregnant, me with Iman and you, Mus’ab.
:: Spoken to PB last week (I think ~ forgive my memory). Suara ala-ala anak dara you.. PB, harap-harap solution dah ditemui untuk masalah PB tu.
:: Congrats to Elin and Aida yang menerima jemputan Allah sebagai tetamuNya. Semoga mendapat keberkatan dan kelancaran mengerjakan haji. Doakan kami di sini. *jeles*

Ok, back to my ‘berpergian’.

Me, along with ½ of the office, including Sikulat, Zarid and my cubicmate, Rahmah, went to Selesa Resort (somewhere in Bentong, near Bukit Tinggi but it wasn’t at all di bukit-bukit nan tinggi okayy) for a 3d2n ‘Teaming To Win’ programme. Simply said – teambuilding. Overall rating (by me, personally) on a scale 1-10 (10 is the best), I gave it maybe 7 or 7.5. Not bad huh? That point is given after considering the fact that we have great time albeit the bruises, blue-blacks, aching muscles, sore throat and the likes. I am only better today. After coming back, I’ve been limping at home, especially after sitting or lying down too long. At least I didn’t get as much blue-blacks like Zarid did, and nor did I lose any shoe-sole like Sikulat who lost the sole of both sides of her sneakers. While Zarid’s had littlest grip on her shoe soles, Sikulat’s had more than she needed. I guess her soles gripped the soil farr to much sampai lekang dari kasutnya.


Ok. Now what did we do over there? Thankfully, it was 80% outdoor, 20% indoor, else we all’d be nodding off to ohlala land. The day kicked off with a short briefing followed by ‘The Nail’ and ‘The Mole’. After Asar, we had telematch. We cheered on top of our lungs, we laughed out at ourselves and others and we stumbled on one another. And we were back with aching legs, sweating. Night was spent trying to choreograph, put lyrics to melody for the final presentation the next night. When we were back to our apartment (shared with Sikulat, Zarid and Rahmah), we had tell-tale of our love-lives, our ex-es (not that we have many anyway), our kids until we were all nodding away.
(Photo left ~ us, before the programme kicked-off)
(Photo right ~ The Moles. It turned out that it was all misunderstanding and ketidakpercayaan)

2nd day saw us having a more vigorous activity. After breakfast we had ‘Obstacle Run’. Panjat pagar (was 5m tall I think), lari ‘zig-zag’, lalu spider web (made of metal chain), got ourselves literally thrown through tayar besar, panjat and turun semula a-pyramid-like structure (where Zarid jatuh berkali-kali – kasut takde bunga), did commando crawl under barb wire, jalan atas uneven tunggul kayu whilst balancing ourselves, panjat dan turun semula riverbank yang licin sambil memeluk buluh-buluh yang miang (which under normal circumstances, would leave us scratching the whole day), masuk jeram air then panjat bukit semula. 2 persons left me gawking..
(Photo ~ lookk who's trying hard to balance herself)

:: PERSON1 ~ a man who managed to have just a bit of his hair went out of place after all those activities. Other than that, he was as neat and handsome as ever. Even baju dan seluar dia were not as comot as the rest of us. I am beginning to belief that people like James Bond does exist in real life, don’t you think? You know, after great explosions, they always managed to survive neatly and handsomely.
:: PERSON2 ~ a lady who passed all obstacles. Turned out a bit comot. Cleaned herself thoroughly in the stream and fetched out her make-up kit. Within minutes, voila…. She was as ready as if going for a high-tea.

On the last night, we did our little performance. Sikulat’s group won with their march song, complete with the tip-tapping of drum. It was followed by a karaoke session, which left me, Sikulat and Zarid with throbbing heads from the loud noise, lampu yang kelam-kelam and some ‘sumbangsih’ they did. Bravo to the bravery, anyway. (some sang well too). I gawked. They twisted, the danced, they salsa-ed, they joget-ed. It was easy to get overwhelmed so I just watched from the sidelines.

The kids and their father coped well. Everything was still in place when I got home. The kids ate well. They were neat. So is their wardrobe. You were right people, salute to Mdh. I just had to clear the laundry. Mdh and laundry just don’t go along well, let’s put it that way.

So now, here I am. Continuing back from where I left before last Wednesday. With renewed spirit and some blue-blacks.

bye bye love, I'll be back soon

I’ll be away for 3 days. I'll leave at approximately 8.30 this morning.

I’m kinda sad having to leave my husband, kakak and iman behind. Last I went out-station for business was in January 2004. Iman wasn’t even born yet. Korea was different, since I tagged along with mdh. I hope they’ll have good time despite not having me around.

Like always, I am not worry about whether or not my kids will be starving. Mdh is a good cook. In fact, a better case that I am. I am just a bit worry about him having to deal with details. Like how many pairs of these and that should go into their respective nursery bag, or what should be put in their bakul bekal, or where do I put kakak’s panties and socks and school-scarf. And like I used to do, I’ve drawn a picture of their wardrobe and has written-down the list of things. You know, what and how much of this and that, that go into this bag and that bag. But I still expect to get his phonecall. Short-cut, as they call it. I’m sure you can deal with this alright yang. Afterall, you’re a SUPER-dad.

In anticipation of the short separation, I kissed and hugged and smooched them in advance. I just hope I won’t wake up drowsily in the wee of the night kissing anyone that happens to be sharing the apartment with me for the next 3 days!

Photo
~ A heart shape I traced with my finger before we depart for Atfal 2 days ago, sending kakak laughing out loud and all smiles for school. Iman laughed out even louder, merely copying and trying to out-do his sister. Why, she asked. Because, I love you dear. She spent the whole short journey looking at the shape on the glass window, which slowly wiped away by the morning dew as the wind rushed by ~

I am not even there yet. But I miss them already.