Some time to spare...

We've just spent a lovely but tiring day with my brother and his family at Templer's Park.  Instead of going back to the place we stopped at the last time, we thought we'll hike up to the waterfall.  The last time I was at this waterfall was when I was 15 or 16, with the Girl Guides and Boy Scouts from my school.  We met up near school, took a Bas Mini (mini bus whose drivers drive like bats out of hell) into the city centre before changing bus to Templer's Park.  The trail going up to the waterfall was not familiar at all but once we were at the falls, memories from the trips come flooding back.

My kids and niece and nephew experienced leeches for the first time today.  When we used to hike up, I remember us preparing ourselves with leech socks and those who didn't have leech socks wore slippers so we can spot the leeches early, before they suck our blood.  Armed ourselves with salt and cigarettes.  I know about the salt but cigarettes.  The boys' reasoning quite dodgey lah.  We didn't encounter that many leeches and they seem to be smaller than what I remember.  We used what we had available to get rid of the leeches.  This is when the take-away packs of chili sauce from fast food outlets come in handy!  Those leeches fell off quickly!

The waterfall looks as good I remember.  Can't say the same about the surroundings though.  Upkeep of the place can certainly be improved.  Styrofoam plates, empty cans and loads of rubbish.  They were clustered around in one area, yes, but still unsightly.  I do wonder if anyone actually goes up there to clean the place.  We tried to be conscientious and brought down our rubbish to throw away.  As soon as the rubbish hit the garbage can, the monkeys were down to rummage through.

We hiked up 2.5km to the waterfall and 2.5km back down.  Kids were real troopers.  They didn't complain a single bit and thoroughly enjoyed themselves.  My feet are quite sore from walking on the stones on the river bed.  How I wish I had a pair of TEVA sandals then!  My Birkies are not made for rough terrains for sure.  Birkies are better than Crocs any day ok!

We're now back at home.  Kids are watching stupid tween/teen shows on Nickleodeon *roll eyes*.  I will never be able to understand the screaming and stupidity on the shows like iCarly and Big Time Rush.  All adults on these shows are idiots and stupidity seems to be in.  Ugh!

Time to get going for Harith Iskander and Douglas Lim show!  I love those guys but honestly, I'll love to stay home çoz I'm knackered...

Fragility of Life

I took some time off today to be a mall rat. A rare chance to wonder about aimlessly. Just as I was heading towards a Geox shoe shop, I heard someone calling "Ms Chan"! Didn't think anything of it. Can be anyone lah. Then I see this guy with long hair walking towards me. OMG, blast from the past! An ex-boyfriend whom I bump into once every few years. Guess it's been a few years since we've bumped into each other.

It was good to catch up a bit on what's been happening in our lives. I was shocked to hear he'd lost his younger sister to cancer about 10 days ago. She was only 38. A rude reminder to us not to take anything or anyone for granted. Not to take our health for granted too.

As a family, we make a point to have dinner together unless PT or I are not in town or we have made dinner plans. That's when we sit and chat. This is the time we hear little gems from the children. Today, I started telling my family that I bumped into an old friend but stop short when it came to telling them about my friend losing his sister at a young age. Both my kids are at ages when they question mortality. They're afraid of losing their parents to illnesses and they're asking questions about dying and heaven and hell. They're afraid not to be able to see their papa and mama again. Whenever Laura asks if she will lose either her papa or mama any time soon, I have been telling her we do not know for sure when we will go but I promise to work hard at keeping healthy so hopefully we won't be "going" any time soon. I will not be able to explain to her why someone who is younger than me has gotten ill and died.

Words cannot describe how sad I am for you and your mom, Y, for your loss.

Kite flying

The weather today was perfect for kite flying. Not too hot and it was windy. We drove to a park popular with those who enjoy flying kites. There has been time in the weekend when cars double and triple park along the highway with kite enthusiasts. Typical bad planning. Big park, not enough parking bays and no public transport going there. That's why I chose to go on a week day.

I dug out a couple of sports kite we've had for many years. Before we had kids, PT and I enjoyed bringing our kites to the beach to fly. Been a long time since we've flown our sports kites. I wasn't even sure if the lines were still strong enough or if the kites had disintegrated!

I set up our terror menerror sports kite which wings span 4ft across. Like real... Then couldn't get it to fly! Aiyoooo, malunya. Well, some parts of the wings were wearing thin and there were parts of the kite which we've had to fix with tape. It has seen better days. I folded up the terror menerror kite and took out the more humble looking but still fun sports kite. I showed the kids how to fly the kite. Being rusty, I didn't do such a good job. The kite dive bombed several times. Then Laura took over. Here she is looking really cute trying to fly the kite with two strings :D
Eu-Jynn had a go too.

We also brought along a single string simple kite which Dita had fun flying. Brought out the "kampong girl" in her :D

While waiting for her turn at the sports kite, Laura decided to fly the small kite too. She was really good getting the kite flying. The wind was perfect!

Laura took a photo of her bro flying the kite. She took a perfect shot of Adam with the kite.
Adam was the best at handling the sports kite. He managed to keep the sports kite airborne the longest of the 4 of us who were there! And this was the first time he tried the sports kite. Who knows, he may get as good as the guys in the video below!

What I remember about primary school...

Playing with my friends before school, during recess and after school. Waking up when the sky was still dark, the air was chilly and fireflies darting about. Yes, fireflies in PJ! We didn't have to drive all the way to Kuala Selangor and jump on a boat to watch fire flies in the 70's!

We played Rounders, hop scotch, five stones and jump rope before school. Nobody told us off for being noisy. At recess, we wolfed down our food so we could have more time to play some more.

When waiting for the school bus, my friends and I would play "Catching" which always involve jumping across the drain. I usually got caught because I was too chicken shit to jump across. I remember my teacher Miss Angela Wong who taught us well, who was firm yet loving. She was concerned about us, made sure we understood what was taught even though there was almost 50 of us. I remember a little fold up cabinet which was opened once a week so we could borrow books to read. After Std 3, once a week we went to a small room filled with books and we could borrow any books we want. I learned later that that was the school library of sorts. I borrowed books by Enid Blyton. Started with Blue Dragon books, slowly moved to Green Dragon and finally Red Dragon. Read all about the Famous Five, Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. I looked forward to the day we could borrow books. I can't remember now which day it was when we could borrow books. It could have been a Friday.

At home, I hardly had any homework. That was usually dealt with pretty quickly so I could watch TV when transmission started at 5pm. Yes, this was before cable TV and TV broadcast wasn't 24 hours. Heck, this was before colour TV.

33 years later and my daughter is in primary school. Her school days are so different from mine. Her school is situated on one of the busiest road in KL, so no chance to play outside the school compound for sure. Girls her age have been kidnapped, are still missing or murdered so playing outside the school without supervision is not an option!

A schoolmate's mom and I carpool with our kids. Why not put her on a school bus? Just today, a motorcyclist squeezed between a parked lorry and my car which was on the left lane. Needless to say, he scratched my car! With the number of cars on the road and the reckless way people drive, put my kids on a bus where they are not secured with any seat belt? I love my children too much to put them through that risk!

A typical day in my daughter's school day...

Arrive in school and straight away they are to get themselves upstairs to the school hall to be lined up with their class. The time between arrival and the start of school, they are taught to sing by their vice principal and they recite classics. Sometimes, they watch cartoon on TV. They are not allowed to run around or make too much noise as the morning session is still on.

Time to start school, they proceed to their classes in an orderly manner. They settle in and lesson starts. Maths and Science taught in English and Mandarin. Bahasa Melayu to learn and workbooks to do. English as a subject twice a week. Moral in Mandarin. Two to three workbooks per subject. Physical Education textbook and workbook to go through. Textbook and workbook for PE???! WTF! PE meant going to the field and being outdoors when I was in primary school!

Every kid look forward to recess right? Recess time in Laura's school... Children go straight to the school canteen and are expected to stay there the entire time. There isn't much of a field to play in in the first place. If the entire Std 1 and Std 2 population were to converge at the field, they will all be standing shoulder to shoulder. Hey, just like being in the assembly hall!

Poor Laura is swamped with homework. Something is terribly wrong with our education system when 8-year-olds go to school for 5 1/2 hours each day and still have to sit through 5-8 homework each day! A neighbour of ours also send her daughter to the same school. E is in Std 5. When we bumped into her the other day, she told Laura, "You're lucky to be in Std 2. You only have maximum 8 homework a day. In Std 5, I have 10 homework on average". She had just gotten back from 2 tuition back to back. It was 7.00pm (E goes to the morning session) and she was still in her school uniform and hadn't started on her homework. What time does she go to bed?

My little girl has always had an early bedtime. Latest to bed 8.30pm. She's a growing girl so she needs her sleep. Since starting school, she's not had the chance to sleep early. Back home by 7.10pm, shower then dinner. By the time she finishes dinner, it's almost 8.30pm. She has to deal with homework. Plough through 5-8 homework, she's in bed by 10.30pm if she's lucky. The next morning, she's up by 8am so she can attend classes in Bao Bei. Laura doesn't attend any tuition class, only Bao Bei. She loves going to Bao Bei as children learn Mandarin in a fun way.

By the time Laura is done with homework, her eyes are half closed. She is exhausted. Dark circle under her eyes. No chance to unwind, no chance for some catch up time with her family, she is off to bed and falls asleep straight away.

Someone please remind me. What's the purpose of homework? My definition of homework is school work that can't be completed in time in school. Homework is a way to revise what was taught in school so that the students understand what they are taught. How is a 7+-year-old supposed to be able to concentrate on homework after having been in school for 5 1/2 hours? Can anyone sustain concentration for so long, whatever age they are?

What is the purpose of workbooks? Why is there such an emphasis on workbooks? One workbook per subject not good enough? Why the need for 2-3 workbooks? After Year 1, students who excel are placed in the first two classes. Laura made it to one of these two classes. I was actually hoping she wouldn't! I knew it would mean extra pressure on her and MORE WORKBOOKS! sigh

Laura was struggling with her homework 'coz she didn't understand what she was supposed to do. I helped her whenever I could by going through dictionary with her and guiding her but I get stumped too as I did not learn Mandarin in school. Several times I told her to ask her teacher the next day. She said she won't 'coz her teacher won't answer her questions, in fact will scold her for asking. A teacher who does not encourage her students to ask when they do not understand? Hmmm... Maybe something got lost in translation. After all, my daughter is 7 1/2 and may not convey fully what the teacher said or she chose the wrong time to ask. When I had a word with the teacher, I asked if Laura asked when she doesn't understand. Her teacher launched into a long explanation on her style of teaching.

She DOES NOT encourage her students to ask questions. There are 46 students in her class, so if everyone of them came up to her personally to ask questions, she does not have time to do much else. When she's teaching, her students are expected to give 100% attention and understand. Then they're given homework to do.

Hello, Ms Teacher. As you said, there are 46 students in your class. Do you expect every single one of them to be at the same level of understanding? They are 7-8 year olds and they are expected to pay full attention and be able to understand every single thing you teach? Wouldn't it be better if the students asked you questions so they learn better? They ask you questions so you can gauge how much you've taught is understood.

Laura has been known to wake up crying in the morning because she thought she had missed out on some homework. Any homework not done will result in marks deducted from her moral exams. Any students who skip school without a valid reason or MC will also have marks deducted. The teachers wield canes at the assembly hall to get the children to behave. The children are taught to fear their teachers. To do their homework or face punishment. Sit down, listen and shut up! That's the message being put across to these children. My daughter told me she's happy 'coz it's "the 5th day her teacher hadn't scolded her". Aiyooo!

I am very frustrated with the education system at the moment. Frustrated with how the children are so bogged down with homework they do not have time to be children. Frustrated at how Laura gets so stressed out when she thinks she's forgotten to do her homework. Frustrated that children's enthusiasm for learning is getting systematically squashed and replaced with learning through fear. Frustrated with the way languages is taught. That's another post! So much emphasis on passing examinations. I constantly remind Laura that examination is a way for the teachers to access how much the students understood what had been taught so far. Do the teachers and the school remember that?

Laura and Adam conquer the slopes!

Laura has not been able to join us at the playground the times we've been there as she was in school. This morning she got her chance to ride the slopes.



I got some flak from friends and family for allowing Adam to ride without a helmet on. I hear you! Now kids are reminded, "No helmet, no cycling"

Fun with my new SE

Now I do not have excuse to miss any "Kodak moments". Today, when going through some old clothes, Adam claimed a t-shirt as his to be used as pyjamas. Then he went and took a cap from the cupboard, ran to his toy box and took out a pair of matching glasses. He put on the cap and glasses and proclaimed that he's now transformed into an old lady!

Adam and Laura look forward to Saturdays when they can go to their gym class.




For my birthday, I got a special treat of breakfast in bed. For lunch, we went to a Korean bbq restaurant in Ampang's very own "Little Korea". Fabulous food!

When the next time Ogawa looks for a spokesperson for their massage chair, they should consider Adam