Senamrobik 1Murid 1Sukan 1Malaysia

Today like other nearly 4 million students nationwide, Mama's school has the Senamrobik
1 Murid 1 Sukan 1 Malaysia (1 Student 1 Sports 1 Malaysia Aerobics). According to the newspaper and the news, this program will be in the Malaysia Book of Records.

After the usual Asma-Ul-Husna, the National and State Anthem thingy, the principal gave a little speech about the significance of the event and he praised the students and teachers for their support of the programme. After that, we started the Senamrobik with a trained instructor at the helm. A few teachers went on the stage, to join the Principal and the Senior Assistants. The principal motioned to Mama to join, but Mama shook Mama's head and pointed to Mama's camera. A good excuse for A Great Escape, huh?

Henna

Mama's eyes turned as big as saucers when Mama was picking up the kids at their play school cum nursery last week. Sis A's fingers and toenails were painted purple!
Trying to act natural, Mama asked her, "Kenapa kuku Yaya macam tu?" (What happened to your nails?). She replied innocently, "Yaya lukis dengan kawan-kawan" (Yaya painted them with friends' help). Oh Mama's little girl has grown up. Oh now she's into nail painting? Hahaha.. Mama laughed when Mama was reminded of an episode a few years ago.

A colleague, who had just returned from performing the Haj, gave a small tube of henna to Mama. Sis A was nearly one year old that time and Mama was very excited to make her look pretty and be more feminine. When Sis A was sleeping, Mama carefully applied the henna to her nails and toenails, hoping that she would be as excited as Mama when she woke up.
Alas, it was not to be. Mama heard shrieks and screams of horror from Mama's little girl. She kept crying and showed her nails to Mama. Until today Mama could still remember her frantic words, "Ddaroh, Ya Ddaroh" (Bleeding, Yaya's bleeding). Oh my, she thought the red colour on her nails was blood and she was really scared at that time. So, Mama had to wash the colour off her nails to stop her hysterical fits.

When Mama was a little girl, Mama and Mama's little sister were always excited during weddings. The bride in the old days (and in present days) always wear the henna. And of course after the bride used it, there would be some henna leaves left for the children .In the old days, henna didn't come in a tube. They came from real trees which can be found in the backyard of most village houses.

From Wikipedia:

Henna (Lawsonia inermis, also called henna tree[1]) is a flowering plant used since antiquity to dye skin, hair, fingernails, leather and wool. The English name "henna" comes from the Arabic حِنَّاء (ALA-LC: ḥinnāʾ / pronounced [ħɪnˈnæːʔ]) or colloquially حنا, loosely pronounced /ħinna/.

Whole, unbroken henna leaves will not stain the skin. Fresh henna leaves will stain the skin if they are smashed with a mildly acidic liquid. Henna is commonly traded as a powder made by drying, milling and sifting the leaves. The dry powder is mixed with lemon juice, strong tea, or other mildly acidic liquids to make a preparation with toothpaste-like consistency, which can be used to make finely detailed body art. The henna mix must rest for 6 to 24 hours before use.
The paste can be applied with many traditional and innovative tools, including resist, a cone, syringe, Jac bottle or fingers. A light stain may be achieved within minutes, the longer the paste is left on the skin, the stronger the stain will be, and should be left for several hours.

Henna stains are orange soon after application, but darken over the following three days to a reddish brown.After the stain reaches its peak color it will appear to fade, as the stained dead cells ex foliate.


Mama, cousins and aunts then worked hard pounding the leaves into paste and put everything people said would make the stains stronger (in our case, dark red). Then we would take turns putting the paste onto our nails and toenails. In order to avoid staining our bed sheets (and the wrath of our mothers), we wrapped our little fingers with cellophane tape (just like the picture that Mama found with some help from Uncle Google).
The end result? We all thought that we looked prettier with the red nails and toenails. A bit like the bride.

Captain T Restaurant

There is a new eatery in town. Finally it began its operation about three weeks ago. Mama heard that the owner is a Penangite millionaire and is so into ships and that's why the restaurants are shaped like ships.

There are two restaurants; one is on land and another is floating on the Kelantan River. The floating restaurant looked tempting but with two very active young children in tow, we decided against it. Moreover, the waitress who showed us the way told us that we had to wait longer for the food if we chose to eat at the floating one.

There are also benches and tables if you prefer to dine al fresco but we wanted to experience climbing to the upper decks and imagine that we were dining on a boat so off we went, climbing a flight of stairs and we chose the first deck (or berth?)

There are a variety of seafood offered and we chose a bit of this and a bit of that. The prices of food are a bit steep but my brother was paying for the meal so who cares? *evil laugh*.

The view is very beautiful. Mama could see the Sultan Yahya (the previous Ruler of Kelantan) Bridge in the distance, and on the other side, the Masterskill buiding (a private institution), just next to TESCO. And we could also see the unique way of sending the food that customers ordered to the floating restaurant - they used a container tied to a hanging rope. Actually we thought there was a boat that could take us cruising up and down the river, sort of a river cruise but the boat was actually that floating restaurant!
All in all, it was a nice and relaxing meal, with the soothing evening breeze.

A Great Teacher

Congratulations on your retirement, Kak Hasnah

Over the last 3 years you have been a great colleague and friend by contributing ideas and suggestions to Mama. When Mama first came to this school, you were one of the few senior teachers who opened their welcoming arms to this new colleague. It's tough being in a new school, and the school is bigger than Mama's previous one and of course with more students and teachers too. And you helped Mama with Mama's new responsibilities because Mama had to learn it from scratch.

During the farewell assembly this morning, the Ustaz broke down while saying the Du'a and this made Mama's eyes welled up too. Mama and the others were glad that the surprise we planned for you went well. Your husband was sporting enough to show up at the assembly and sang 'Happy Birthday' while both of you cut

the cake together.

The hugs and kisses you get from friends are expected.
You have been teaching here, at this school, for 25 years...

Now, a new phase of your life is beginning. It is the time you have been waiting for, to spend more time with your beloved husband and family, especially with your only grand daughter.

We wish you a happy and fulfilling retirement. You will be greatly missed.

Oh My English!

There's a sitcom of the edutainment type that has finally come to town. ASTRO (our satellite TV station) has been giving us short clips on it and Mama has watched a few episodes. Mama's verdict? This programme teaches you how to use certain expressions properly and correcting the mistakes most Malaysians make when they converse in English. In short, Manglish.. (mangled English?).. Hahahaha..
Anyway, jokes aside, this gives a glimpse of what Malaysians do, especially the learners of English language when they converse or interact with others. It's hilarious but Mama does believe that you learn better with humour thrown in once in a while. The best thing of all, the station also provides a website for this, where you can watch the sitcom and there are also some interactive exercises that you can practise on.
Today, during the extra class, Mama brought along the laptop to key in some data to be sent to the Ministry of Education. After Mama finally finished her non-teaching task, Mama asked the students whether they had taken Mama's advice and tried out the exercises on the website. Some of them did, but most of them didn't so Mama grumbled a bit and said, 'You can spend hours chatting and commenting on posts on Facebook but could not spend a few minutes doing the exercises???'.
So there we were, trying the exercises together and when Mama looked at the pictures, taken (candidly) by one of the students

, Mama realised that for all the trials and tribulations, the ups and downs of being a teacher, this kind of moment is priceless.
As Mama looks back over nearly twenty years of teaching, Mama recalls innumerable tests, trials and times of crushing pain. All of those dissolved when Mama looks at the innocent faces of Mama's students and is reminded of the faces of Mama's students who have walked in and out of Mama's teaching years.
The website's address : http://www.astro.com.my/ohmyenglish/

Wordless Wednesday

Monica Bay, Kemaman

Yeah, Mama knows.. There are cobwebs here and there in this blog. Please let Mama spend some time to clean the 'house' before sitting down to jot something here. Yes, it nearly a month since Mama's last posting. Mama has lots to share but as usual Mama is either procrastinating or plain lazy or simply doesn't have the time to write. Luckily Pakcik Hassan gave Mama a nudge to start writing again.. thank you, Pakcik!!!
So many things that happened and so many things that Mama and the children did recently and Mama really want to share it here.
First of all, during the two week school hols (which didn't seem like a holiday at all), Mama was at school every day during the first week; for the extra class, meeting, on duty and most importantly, tidying up Mama's desk, and of course Mama's room.
Then Mama, the children, Atok and Nenek went to Kemaman, for a family reunion (Atok's side). This kind of reunion takes place every 2 years but Mama never joined them because of one reason or another. Either Mama was busy with marking exam scripts and meetings or simply because the children were still too young to travel far and to manage.
This year however it was Mama's aunt's family's turn in Kemaman, Terengganu to host the reunion. And it's nearer to Kelantan. And the children are bigger (but no wiser) so Mama was quite excited to go. But it was with some trepidation too. Would Mama's trusty old car be able to endure the strain of the long trip? Would Mama be able to drive long distance? After all it has been years since Mama drove long distance.
But that Friday morning, we set out early, at about 6.30am. It was a smooth and relaxing drive, and we used the still not completed Lebuhraya Pantai Timur (East Coast Highway) and we reached Kemaman at about 11am.
So there we were, in Kemaman. Mama was glad Mama made that trip. For the children's sake and Mama's too. They were very excited going for a long drive. When they fell asleep half an hour into the journey, waking up and fell asleep again from time to time, Sis A would ask, 'Dah sampai Kemaman? (Have we reached Kemaman?)'. They were eager to play at the beach and the playground. This is because a few days prior to the trip, Mama googled the place that we were going to stay at and there it was, the pictures of the villas and also the playground and the beach that was nearby. And that was enough to make the children excited preparing for the trip.
And Mama was also glad we made the trip because Mama got to meet Mama's cousins and second cousins whom Mama had not met for years.In this family, Mama has 3 cousins who are born in the same year as Mama. And the four of us managed to pose for a picture!
Atok's family are all over Malaysia. Mama and family were the second to arrive because Mama's cousin from Johor was already there with her husband. Later the families from KL, Selangor and Kedah trickled in and the place was a riot!!!
We were in Kemaman for 3 days and 2 nights and our Kemaman family had planned everything in great detail. Mama really loved the place we stayed. We also went to the Kemaman Mini Zoo (which is not so mini at all) but Mama will write about it in another entry.
It was an unforgettable trip for Bro H and Sis A and until today Sis A would ask,'Bila kita nak gi Kemaman lagi? (When is our next trip to Kemaman?)'
For more pictures----->
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150917341210768.435346.657250767&type=3&l=23f580ce59