My Nest

Many years back ...........
With my partner, I built my nest,
On a small hill it rests....
Nothing to shout about, my nest,
Looking around ...compared to the rest,
However, it's warm and clean,
with rows of green,
that forms a screen,
So as not to be seen !
It's so enviromental friendly,
that the birds, and squirels,
make a habit to come early,
looking for food, that is free !
In my nest were many ducklings,
grown into swans,
spread their wings,
with destination, across the ocean.
Many make me happy,
some make me wonder,
And raise questions,
which I have no answer!
Somedays the nest is empty,
somedays full of 'quacker'
But it all depends
on the season and weather,
Summer or winter!
Today.........
Alone in the nest I sit,
thinking of the past and future,
And at times like these,
I really missed,
the ducklings of yonder!
filling the nest with chatter!

Shopping for groceries

Good morning guys! Today is Monday, it is my 'shopping in bulk' day for groceries. I will be going to a wholesaler 'pemborong' to get groceries at cheaper prices. Once you have experienced purchasing in bulk you would hate to buy things 'runcit' (retail). I will give you an example; if I buy the onions (bawang besar) per kg is rm 2.20 (at the pasar or kedai runcit), but if I buy bulk at the wholesaler it will only cost me rm 7.50 per sack (8 kg) i.e. about rm 0.95 per kg. This is just one example, there are many more items that nearly cost double if you buy retail. Sometimes I think that I should be a pemborong and sell the items at cheaper prices and send direct to your homes. ( you may order on line) You will be guaranteed of quality items at cheaper prices than anywhere else ! Maybe we could send to homes in the Klang valley with minimum transport charges. Eh, how about it guys? Then you don't have to worry shopping for groceries! You will save time, energy, parking fees, bad purcase, impulse buying, etc. At the end of the day you will be saving a lot of money! If you think this is a good idea, why not try register with me? Then I will be able to guage the demand for this kind of service. This enterprise may be called 'Blogger on-line groceries' or something like that. He, he this has not been preplanned ! It looks like I got an early morning inspiration. He, he, he, this is one of mak teh's bright ideas ! You will see that mak teh has a lot of bright ideas !

Setiap Sabtu

Sabtu merupakan hari yang Mak teh boleh relax sedikit. Hari ini pelajar-pelajar disajikan dengan sarapan roti, telor cincang dan baked beans. Menu yang macam ini maid boleh sediakan tanpa ganggu tidur mak teh. Maka bangun pun tak perlu terlalu awal. Mak teh bangun sarapan tersedia, selepas sarapan boleh buat apa saja, nak ngaji ke, baca buku ke, nak blogging ke. Kadang-kadang pada pagi hari sabtu mak teh and pak Haji pergi dengar tazkirah/ceramah di masjid Negeri (depends on mood, tajuk and penceramahnya)
Pukul 8.30 pergi pasar, hari ini kena siap makanan untuk minum pagi. Tadi dah masak koay teow untuk semua pelajar-pelajar dan murid-murid junior dari sekolah lain yang join kelab memanah kita. Mereka ada pertandingan memanah tadi tu dah berpeluh-peluh kat padang sekolah. Dengar khabar ada yang menang 'bulls eye' ada yang menagis tak menang, kecewa!. Kasihan ! Budak-budak macam tu lah!
Seronok juga membena sekolah istemewa ni 'pembelajaran ilmu dunia dan akhirat'yang kita tekankan. Kita ada ko-kurikulum seperti memanah, berenang, berkawad, tae kwando, bertani, dan menunggang kuda! He, he, kalau semua orang tahu keistimewaan sekolah kita ini tentu akan buat booking awal-awal untuk anak-anak mereka dimasa hadapan! Kami mendidik pelajar-pelajar ini seperti kami mendidik anak-anak kami malahan lebih baik lagi sebab dah berpengalaman (jadi minus the mistakes that we have done when bringing up our children)(Sila lihat majallah Anis September 2007)
Petang nanti ibu-bapa akan datang menjenguk anak-anak mereka, (mereka boleh buat demikian 2 minggu sekali sahaja)Jadi nampaknya kalau mak teh keluar pun nanti nak kemana-mana, kenalah pulang sebelum jam 5 petang.
Kalau ada sesiapa yang ingin datang nak menjenguk sekolah kita ni, silalah tetapi kenalah buat appointment dahulu.

Setiap Jumaat

Assalamualaikum! Apa khabar anak-anak bloggers sakalian ? Alhamdulillah hari ini mak teh rasa bahagia, tertanya-tanya juga kenapa. Bila difikirkan mungkin kerana banyak perkara rahmat Allah limpahkan kepada saya dan keluarga. Syukur, Alhamdulillah!
Hari Jumaat seperti ini walaupun sekolah kami cuti hujung minggu mak teh, Pak Haji dan anak-anak sekolah serta anak-anak sendiri yang membantu, agak sibuk juga. Pertama kami bangun awal untuk ke masjid Negri solat subuh ( berjemaah kerana subuh jumaat ada sujud sajaddah) Lepas itu mak teh balik rumah masak sarapan untuk semua orang. Setelah sarapan pelajar-pelajar akan menghafal Al-Quran hingga 9.30 pagi. Kemudian saya ke pasar, sedangkan anak-anak semua mengemas rumah dan asrama. Anak-anak di asrama akan diberi minum pagi jam 10.30. Selalunya kami sediakan tetapi hari ini, sesekali kami beli roti canai sahaja.Selepas itu kami bolehlah rehat sedikit kerana makanan tengah hari disediakan oleh katerer, mak cik Maria. (mana boleh saya buat semua, tak terbuatlah!) Minum petang dan makan malam mak teh dan pembantu akan sediakan. Begitu lah setiap hari, cuma kadang-kadang ada orang dermawan datang menghantar makanan bersedekah untuk pelajar-pelajar tahfiz ni. Kalau dermawan tu telah telefon sehari sebelum hantar makanan itu, 'save' lah kita sedikit belanja.
Alhamdulillah mak teh, Pak haji dan anak-anak seronok buat kerja yang 'orang tak suroh ni' tak tahu nak cerita tetapi terasa juga nikmatnya! Semua yang baik datang dari Allah (SWT). Syukur kita masih hidup dan ditemukan dengan hari Jumaat ini.

Shopping for Food at Supermarkets.

Today I will be going to the supermarket to shop for food. I do this once a week. Now I would like to share with you something that I have discovered about shopping at supermarkets. First thing is you have to beware of the discount items. They are usually items with near expiring dates. I discovered this when I bought 2 trays of eggs at cheap price last month at a well known supermarket. My maid told me that at least 6 eggs out of each tray were bad. So actually it was not a good buy ! You have to lookout for those items being heaped up, strategically placed to attract your attention, they may be calling out to you "Hey I'm cheap but I am going to the dump tomorrow!"
The other thing for you to beware are cheap items especially vegetables form China, they are dumping it here! With the reports in the papers that they may be laced with chemicles etc, I wonder why the authorities still allow such imports to be sold here! Now we as consumers are urged to be 'intelligent consumers'. So folks beware, it looks like it has become the rule of ancient times 'Buyers Beware'. Nobody is going to take care of you, your safety, your health, or you money BUT you yourself!

Have I Really Aged?

Hello guys! I am quite exhausted today because for the past three days had been very busy. Today suddenly the reality that I have indeed aged hits me! I am feeling soo tired and exhausted. All these while, I have managed to feel young because the rythm of my daily life has been quite the same. I have no menantu and cucu yet, the girls at the publishers and other young friends had refused to call me mak cik they call me kakak, then hubby and me had for ages used the four wheel-drive (like young people?)and we love driving long distances day or night, then we love the company of young people especially our students. Well as they say, age does not matter as long as you feel youg at heart, you are young. However quite sad to tell you that when the body aches, then your heart no longer manage to feel young! And then you would not feel like taking that overseas trips that you have been planning! Fortunately when our family was younger we had taken the children almost everywhere (locally lah!) Overseas, the whole family togethter? Only once.
So you young people out there, what are you waiting for? Pack your bags and take your children along. Believe me they will remember the trip for a lifetime! However plan well and budget for the trip first.

The Recipe 'Acar Buah Utara'

I am thinking how to present the recipe sebab tak pandai nak cerita, also I have never seen a recipe for this dish. I am a novel writer not a recipe writer.Ok, I will try, it goes like this:
Bahan untuk menumis, chili kering, bawang merah ( sedap yang siam), bawang putih, halia, minyak masak, gula, cuka (I use yang asli eg imported heinz brand, apple cider vinegar or vegetable vinegar), rempah campur dan bijan. Bahan buah-buahan, limau jeruk (important ingredient,order from pekan rabu alor setar), belimbing kering (buat sendiri), bawang putih, bawang merah, kurma, kismis, prune cina, segala buah-buah asam cina, lobak masin, buah pala halua, segala benda asam yang kering sesuka hati.
Cara membuatnya: bahan buah-buahan hendaklah di bersihkan toskan, yang besar tu potonglah, kemudian celur semua bahan buah-buahan tu, satu persatu berasingan (lihat gambar). Next, sedia bahan untuk ditumis. Chili kering, setelah dibersihkan toskan. Lepas tu semua bahan-bahan nak tumis tu hendaklah digoreng dahulu (separuh masak) sebelum diblenderkan berasingan. So mula tumis panaskan minyak, masukkan chili, bawang puti, bawang merah, halia, kacau sampai wangi, lepastu masukan gula(banyak juga), kacau sampai gula hancur (lama gak biar gula masak hingga sebati dengan bahan lain tadi) Lepastu masukkan vinegar(agak je ada rasa masam cuka) then masukkan garam (jangan banyak sebab jeruk kita ada yang masin)Kacau lama sampai mendidih.Mustahak rasa dulu kuah ni sampai sedap ikut taste sendiri. Lepas tu baru masukkan bahan buah-buahan tadi yang keras awal yang lembut akhir. Kacau sampai masak naik minyak dan nampak gulanya 'berkaca'. Akhir sekali gorengkan rempah campuran dalam kuali angkat masukkan kedalam periuk acar tadi, begitu juga bijan, goreng dan masukkan. Then rasalah, Hmmmmm sedaaaaap! Selamat Mencuba!

The Acar Buah Utara is Ready!

Hi Guys! What I have promised you for the last few days is now ready! It took me nearly the whole morning (about 2 hours) preparing the ingridients and the whole afternoon to do the cooking ( nearly 3 hours). So its satisfaction and happiness after I have comleted the dish. When I tasted the finished product, hmmmm, it's so deliciously sour, sweet and spicy. This recipe originated from Kedah. In the north, a feast for the wedding will not be complete without the Acar Buah. The person who taught me this recipe did not give any details as to the quantity of the ingredients. So if you are asking me for the recipe I can onlt tell you the ingridients and the steps of cooking. As to the proportion of each ingriedient, I 'hentam saja' as I like. You have to use logic when you estimate the proportion of each ingridient. Now I am too tired to list out the ingredients and the steps of cooking. May be I will do that tomorrow. So for now feast your eyes on the lovely looking and appetising Acar Buah! He, he, he.

My Pendant

Do you remember last week I posted the photos of my children. One of the girls is Lia. She's also known as the 'loket' or pendant in the family. You see I have 9 chilren and they are arranged in such a way that if they stringed like a necklace, Lia falls in the middle like the pendant. My first born is a girl, then I have 2 boys, the 3 girls, then 2 boys, the youngest is a girl. Lia, the fifth child, came in between the 2 sisters. Among my children she's the most ardent horse rider and it goes without saying that she love horses! Have a look at how Lia progressed.

Cooking Postponed !

Hello guys ! I am sorry to present you an anti-climax, the planned great event for today i.e the cooking of the much awaited 'Acar Buah Utara'had to be postponed! Reason being my beloved husband had dragged me to the Dusun to accompany him. You see he could not go without taking me along because his assistant, our gardener is a female (actually we have two maids and one is the cook while the other one acts as the gardener) So when my husband needs an assistant to do planting of trees he needs his assistant and she is very good at it. She is strong and very skill in the art of planting and gardening. We are considerd lucky to have the two maids. Between the two of them, they are able to tackle most of the jobs at home and in the garden plus the dusun as well.The only disadvantage is that I have to go to the dusun eventhough sometimes I prefer to stay at home doing blogging! So my son had suggested, to solve such a problematic situation,I should upgrade to mobile blogging.He, he, he too advance for me just few weeks back was gropping about blogging.
Anyway, I will try to update you tomorrow if able to do the cooking. Sorry mak lang, see you tomorrow ok?

Cooking, My Style !

Today I have to start planning to cook the famous 'Acar Buah Utara' which I have to promised to give as gifts to the entry winner in my blog. Remember I promised those entry which is number 50th, 75th and 100th will receive a bottle of my home made 'Acar Buah Utara'. I havent counted who are the winners yet, but I was thinking before I do that I have to cook the Acar Buah first!
Now I am excited about the cooking. You see I am not a good cook like Mak Lang, I have never been a good cook! Then how come I can cook and claim to be able to cook delicious dishes?(You may ask ) I will let you into my secret, actually I only started to cook seriouly less than 10 years back. However I am gifted with the imagination of the good taste for good and delicious food. Eventhough I did not do the cooking during my younger days, I know what went wrong when the food tasted lowsy. And I am very particular that the taste should come out perfect.My first maid was very much aware of that, that she had complained to my mother " Kak Cik doesn't know how to cook but she knows how to complain about my cooking!" (That was when I was young just married at age of 23 and the maid was local more like a sister).
So my cooking of this dish start with me asking the maid whether all the ingridients needed are available. I had listed the ingridients to her and she is to make sure all are availble. Then I told her that I want to cook this dish tomorrow afternoon. So now it is her duty to do the neccessay things ie make sure ingridients are are available and ready for the big Chef to cook by 2 pm tomorrow! Easy isn't it? He, he,he. (jangan marah mak lang! Esok saya cerita macam mana saya masak)

For the Love of Languages

Today is Thursday again and what does Thursday brings me? Early this morning I had scanned my brain to see my schedule for today. Yes I remember thursday means I have an English class to teach. I love teaching English especially to my Form 1 classes. You see some of them were so engrossed with my teaching that their jaw dropped and mouth openened. At that moment you know that you are a good teacher and you feel the pleasure of teaching. Its funny though, I discovered that I enjoy teching English more than Bahasa Malaysia. Its not that I like Bahasa Malaysia less. it's my 'mother tongue'. It's just that I found Bahasa Malaysia is harder to teach! Of course I love teaching the classic pantuns, the simpulan bahasa and perumpamaan and the essays. Other than that am not so good in my teaching of Bahasa. That reminds me, I should go and do a crash course with puan Adibah Amin. She is reputed to be a very good teacher of both English and Bahasa Malaysia. She has published several books on both subjects.
I have to end here, its nearly time! I am off to my English class!Cherrio and remember to always be good to your mother whoevever and whatever you are!

Meet the Queen of fruits, the Mangosteen.

Today is rather busy day for me. First I had to finish compiling photos and write up for an article in a magazine. Then I have to teach the Bahasa Class. Then I went to the market, after that I felt thirsty (today not fasting) Iwent to buy the quite famous cendol in sec 16. Then I had Lunch. As I looked outside, the sky is very dark, so naturally it reminds me of my mak long. ( Much earlier I told you about mak long who never like dreary weather it makes her miserable) Yesterday promised my dusun caretaker that we will be going to the dusun because she had informed us that the manggis fruits (mangosteen) has started to get ripe. ( I'm not sure whether we will be going in this kind of weather) Manggis gets ripe in stages, so we have to go and collect every other day. If the Durian is known as the king of fruits, the mangosteen is known as the queen of fruits. The ripe mangosteen has a beautiful 'mangosteen purple' colour. Now with the many claims of mangosteen fruits and leaves have medicinal propertieas and there are firms which are manufacturing such products, I have warned my caretaker to look out for people who may come to strip our trees off their leaves! Nowadays yuo cant stay in peace, anthing that will bring money ,bad people will come and steal! So beware!

Do You Know ?

Hello there! Good morning! I have realised that there are many things we do not know but those things are within the knowledge of some others. I would like to share this knowledge with others. My idea is to compile the things that I know through my reading, experience and information passed down to me of which you may or may not know. If the collection makes good reading material then I will publish a book to be named "101 Things You May Not Know" or in Bahasa Malaysia " 101 Perkara Yang Anda (Mungkin) Tidak Tahu" Off and on I will enter a few entries on this subject in my blog. You may comment and say whether you have already known about that or that its new to you.
I am happy to note that the number of visitors to my blog is increasing daily. However most of them are silent readers. So to encourage comments I am going to offer gifts to the comment entry in my blog number 50th, 75th and the 100th ( for this I will count from the first entry by fellow blogger,OO. I will approve all entries that are not obnoxious. You may want to know what is the nature of the gifts. It will be in the form of a bottle of homemade(by Mak Teh), acar buah utara (very deliciously appetising!) On top of that if the entry is a very good and positive one, I will add another bonus, a bottle of tempoyak (home-made A grade, product of our dusun, lovely taste like grade A cheese) Whoever wins (or the representative)will have to collect the gift or gifts at a place in Kuala Lumpur). Thank you for your interest and happy blogging with comments entries in my blog! Good Luck!He, he, he.

My Girls will be Home soon !

Today is 15th July, I have one more month before the girls Yana and Lia will come home for the holidays. I am waiting for that date of their arrival home to malaysia. Lia is in Jordan doing medicine while the younger sister Yana is ding pre-U Al-Azhar in cairo. I have five girls but Yana has been the most manja child to me, she was the hte baby with longest period of sitting on my lap. Between the them, the girls had 1 to 2 years age difference to the next baby. So they could not claim my lap for long because the next baby soon came by. However in Yana's case she had 2 brothers below her. Thingking that she was the last baby girl, I gave her more attention than others, as I did not want to manja the boys!. Thats why she was more manja to me than her other siblings. Lia has also been close to me. I still remember when I was due to go into hospital to deliver Yana, Lia tugged at my dress and refused to let me go. At that time we were in between maids (no maid), so she ended in the hospital with the father waiting for the delivery. So you see, thats why I have been waiting for my 2 girls to come home to mummy!

Three Little Girls

This photo of my three girls taken when Yana was 1, Lia 3 and Ude 4





This is photo of Yana when she was 3

My Little Babies

These are my cute babies Lia and Ude when Lia was few monthes old and Ude was 2 plus.

Horse Riding Session

The photo shows Z, Ude and Aly at their weekly horse riding session

Enjoying Durian at the Dusun

The students and my children enjoying the durians they had just collected at the dusun last saturday.

A Saturday Morning

Hello guys! This morning I went to my publisher's office. The people there invited me for two reasons; first they wanted me to give some motivational talks (to be more specific on how to sell books ). you see it seems that during the last K.L. International book fair I have helped them to sell many, many units of my books. So they wanted some tips on how to do that kind of sale.Tuan Haji M thinks that I am a natural talent for salesmanship (Thank you tn Haji M). Secondly, they came to know that I can cook very delicious Koay teow. So the girls had requested that I should bring some of my delicious cooking. Of course I felt flatterred and had promised them that I would.So it ended this morning I gave the(much enlightened?) talk and the dish they had been waiting (salivating) for. As you may have already guessed, after the talk we had the makan and after the makan. Then after the makan (you won't believe this) the girls pesterred me for the recipe. In the end they 'kecek' ( bahasa kedah for soft talked) out from me not only the koay teow recipe but the mee hailam, mee bandung and bihoon special. When I asked for the 'pengkeras' they gave me two new books by Nambai! So I had accepted it that at least they gave me something for the 'pengkeras' All is well that ends well! The girls inturn promised to invite me back to the office after they have tried my recipe and maybe we will work together to publish a book on Mak Teh's Recipe in the future! He, he, Look out for it!

The Friday Dawn (Subuh) Prayers

Assalamualaikum! Hello there fellow bloggers! Today is Friday again. Usually on friday morning many of my friends attend the subuh prayers at the big blue mosque. As some of you may have already known that friday subuh prayers is rather special, they have the 'sujud sajaddah'. The 'sujud sajjadah' is special because it is done when the Imam read the 'Surah Assajaddah' in the first rakaat of the subuh prayers. Then come to the ayat 15 that says " Only those who believe in Our Signs, who, when They are recited to them, Fall down in adoration, (sujud) And celebrated the praises of their Lord, nor they (ever) puffed up with pride". So from your standing position you straight away do the sujud and say this doa in Arabic, "Sajadawajhiya lilladzi kholakhohu wasauwwarohu wa syaqqosam'ahu wabasorohu bihaulihi wakhuuwatihi, fatabarokallohhu ahsanulkholoqiin" which means in malay, "Aku sujudkan wajahku pada Allah, Tuhan yang menciptakan aku, yang menjadikan rupa parasku yang memberikan pendengaran padaku, Allah yang Maha Berkuasa, Maha Suci Allah yang Maha Pencipta, maka Dialah sebaik-baik pencipta". After that you will stand up and continue your prayers as usual.
The Imam will read 'Surah Assajaddah'for the first rakaat and 'Surah Al-Insan' for the second rakaat. For you to understand why you do the 'sujud sajaddah' it is better for you to read the two surahs and understand the meaning. If you understand the meaning it will make you cry during the prayers and why you suddenly do the sujud. In the ayat 12 surah assajaddah, it says that, "If only thou could see when the guilty ones would bow their heads before their Lord(saying it) "our Lord we have seen and we have heard; now then send us back (to the world) : we will work righteousness: for we do indeed (now) believe". Of course that will happen in the hereafter and Allah would not send them back to this earth! So be happy (insaf) that we are still alive and could do whatever good that we want to do while still alve on this earth.

The Things We Do

Good Morning girls! Yesterday morning I was writing about our school MTAQSA, the connection was disrupted. Today I am not in the mood to write about that. Anyway we hope that the article about our school will come out in the September issue of Anis magazine. Today due to our blogger friend Mak Lang wanted information on garderning, I am announcing that my husband will open his website soon, all about garderning. Yes my husband whom we shall call 'Pak Haji Janggut Putih', in short 'Pak Haji' is really a person with green fingers! We will announce the website when ready. So Mak Lang lookout for it. A website for MTAQSA will also be introduced soon. This is for people like mamamia who wanted to know all about our school. We are happy to get a lot of inquiries about our school being a Tahfiz, Islamic and acedemic school with modern outlook. However we are sorry we could not accomodate applicants who do not meet our requirements. You would be surprised that there are many career proffessional parents out there who are unable to take care of their children proper education and upbringing that they are coming to us for help. This weekend we will be seing acouple of parents who are doctors asking for our advice obout their problem teenager. We would like to help but we would not admit her in this special school. So we are looking for people who would like to join us to open another branch of our school, Maahad Tahfiz Vokesyenal. We are also in need of many teaching staff for our present school. Our activities in tne building of these schools are charitable, so if you think you can help us in any way you are welcome!

Hello and goodnight!

Assalamualaikum! Today I have written my blog quite early in the morning. Unfortunately could not publish the post. Then I tried to comment on the other blogs but was not successful. So Im rather tired now, could not write much. I promise will do tomorrow. I wanted to reply to mak lang and onde I could not. Hello to kin's friends and my children overseas who have been reading my blogs. Goodnight to matahari, see you tomorrow!

A Character for my novel?

Weather today a little gloomy again. As long as the gloomy atmosphere comes from the clouds and not the haze it should be ok. If it is going to rain we should say 'Alhamdulillah' However this is not the case with mak long. If the weather looks gloomy she'll be miserable. She had told me that her marriage which took place long time ago was an arranged marriage. So I asked her "Was it raining or gloomy on the day that you were married?". She could'nt remember. He,he, I was trying to be her 'psyco-therapist' (is there such a word?) You see mak long was an obedient daughter. She would not go against the words of her father. She smiled on her wedding day and she kept on smiling infront of people in later years throughout her marriage to pak long. She never disobeyed her husband and became the good' stay at home wife'. Few people knew that she had somebody who was pining for her and sadly this person passed away at a young age. I had wanted to write a novel about mak long but her so passive attitude in life angered me. She had denied herself many things and put upon herself all blames if something is wrong with the other relatives. As a result she's now forgetfull and miserable on gloomy days. ( this is my own conclusion) I wish she had been more assertive and outgoing and had gone to get what she desired all those years and enjoyed her life!

Enjoyable day

We enjoyed yesterday's outing. The boys had real fun with collecting the durians competition, eating durians to maximum (no limit). Then they went to the goat farm for the kemahiran hidup exposure. After that they had a dip in the stream and built a dam by piling the rocks and pebbles across the stream so as to make the water level higher. Unfortunately while they were having so much fun the rain came at midday while we were about to have lunch. So we had to cut short the outing and promised the students more outings in the near future. Nevertheless it was a happy but tiring day!

Planning an outing to the Dusun

Today I am busy, planning the menu and preparing the food items to take along for tomorrow 'A Day at the Dusun'. I have mentioned earlier that we are taking the students and my households including the maids to have a picnic at our dusun durian situated about 30 km from KL. The outdoor activities for tomorrow will be taken care by Aly who is now our attachment staff (ustaz) and his elder brother Z will assist him. My husband who is also the Mudir will take care of the 'kemahiran hidup' exposure where students will be taken to the goat farm nearby to understand the making of the bio manure from the goats droppings. I will exclude myself from that one! My main activities will be eating and wallowing in the stream. ( he,he,he, care to join?) The ustaz and science teacher's family will be coming along as well. All participants especially the students are excited about this outing.Will report the outcome on monday.

Second thoughts about food

Hello girls! Today I would like to discuss about the food we eat. Usually you eat what you like and buy the food that you like. However have you ever come across a situation where you took a first bite a certain food and wished you had never bought it (because it tasted lowsy) . It happened to me many times, yet I still repeat the mistake. Sometimes I just had to eat what I had bought becuse I do not want to waste the food. However later I would regret eating the food. I should not have eaten any food that I have second thoughts about. There were also occassions when I noticed the unhygenic food handler (having long nails) after paying for the food. At that moment I would made up my mind not go to the shop again. However I would complain to the shopowner about the unhygenic worker before leaving the shop. If I had to eat in a new place, I would avoid looking into the kitchen or the back of the shop. I may not be able to swallow the food if I did that. Most of the time when we buy food, we are attracted to the taste (we had imagined the taste and worked up our appetite). Why not make sure you don't buy the germs, bacteria, worms and poisonous substance that comes with it. And I'm telling myself again not to buy or eat any food that I have second thoughts about. So let's look, observe and think before we buy or eat food in stalls, shops and restaurants. However, there is one shop that I could eat as much as I want without any qualms, like eating my own homecook food ie at 'Dapur Bersih' located at Bandar Darulaman, Jitra, Kedah. They use only quality raw materials and their food are free of msg and preservatives. If you are staying around there, or happened to be around there during your visits to the north, you may order any kind of homecook food to eat in or 'tapau' or for your kenduri. (Their phone number: 04-9176231) . Happy eating but cautious of what you put into your mouth. We do not want to contract diarrhoea, gastric or worse something which may later develop into cancer!

For the love of languages

It is Thursday and I have an English class to teach. I love teaching this subject and I also teach Bahasa Malaysia and public speaking. I have long ago realised that I love languages including Arabic. When I read the Quran, I very much wanted to know the meaning of the verses. Then I had the chance to learn Arabic when we had classes for my Yana then 11 years old and Aly then was 1o years old. We (5 children and me) did the classes at home .We had Ustazah Naemah who came to the house twice a week, because we were sending Yana and Aly to Sudan. (Yes we did send 11 yo Yana and 10 yo Aly to Sudan) It was interesting learning the language with the children. I still remember Husna (then 6 yo), the youngest would run into the kitchen and brought items for the ustazah say the arabic words for those items. And when it was tea time, the children wold say to the ustazah " turiidusyyai?" Ustazah would answer, "Naam, Ana Uhibbusyyai wa kaksan wa biskaawit" And we all laughed and enjoyed the tea and the arabic conversation. It's not to wonder then, that we had learned arabic very fast in that manner.Nowadays I could grasp the meaning of some familiar words in the Quran and that would make me excited enough to carry on reading. Unfortunately the Arabic classes lasted only for 2 years (1 year before children went to Sudan and 1 year after). After that it was difficult to continue with the classes due to many reasons.
However, all is not lost! Since we have founded our own school, I could always sit in the classes with my students. But I have yet to do that. The actual reason is that I have become 'lazy' because there is no 'classmate' or 'sparring partner' to spurr me on. Nevertheless I will learn Arabic seriously in near future. To do that I will have to call ustazah Naemah again.

Durians are falling!

Hello girls!This morning I received a call from my orchard caretaker informing that the durians has started to fall. Excited? Well, when I was younger we used to make a huge durian feast when there's a good season.We even coined a name for it, we called it ' the durian Q' . The reason for such a name was that we also have a BBQ to feast with the durians. There were about 500 guests. It was once featured in the NST titled as 'The gargantuan durian feast' or something like that. For some years back, we could not do so because we have not much energy left for such functions and many of our friends have moved on, and our lifestyle has also changed. The once upon a time, young upcoming and vibrant couple are no more!
However I have promised our students that we will be taking them to the 'dusun' when durians season is on. So when I got the call this morning my head started to plan and automatically I could picture the durian picnic at the dusun with the BBQ (chickens of course!) not forgetting the pulut santan to eat with the durian. The children will be playing in the stream, but the bigger boys may go to the waterfall nearby. May be I should open the invitation to you guys as well. Not sure how to go about to manage crowds and this dusun is near the jungle with no resort facilities at the moment. Any suggestions?

First Day at work

Today is Ude's first day at work. She is my fourth child, second daughter and is 22 years old. I hope she can adjust well to the working life.For the past 16 years she was either somewhere in school learning the skill that enabled her to obtain a degree in architecture (interior) or lazing around in the house. She hardly does housework since we have maids throughout all these years. In between she sometimes goes out with friends and does horse riding. Looking back, I had not taught her much of living skills. Even her clothings were bought by me. I do not trust her choice in clothings becuase if left on her own, she would inevitably pick up clothes not approved by me and husband. Poor Ude! I hope she will fare well in the outside world. However with her talent, I have no doubt that she will take up after her elder brother and sister who seem to be very much needed and useful in the office. (looking at the late hours they come home from office). My advice for Ude is behave well and don't be too trusting! I wish Ude all the best, you have the wide world infront of you!

Marriage is a very big decision

Hello girls! Today is Sunday again. This morning the weather is rather gloomy over the klang valley. I also noticed my eldest's face was rather gloomy too. I kept quiet and refrain from asking her questions. At breakfast she volunteered to tell us about her anxiety; her close friend whom she has adopted like younger sister has decided to marry a 'mat salleh'. ( sorry I have to edit this story at my daughter's request). However I pray that she will make a wise decision not purely based on her emotions! Remember marrige does not affect just the two person; it will entail many persons and many things.So those of you girls who are facing the same situation, I would suggest for you to do an 'Istikharah prayer' to ask Allah to give you guidance in this matter. May Allah guide you, Ameen!