My Little Pink Riding Hoods

My Little Pink Riding Hoods

went out to the woods

not much equipped with a hopeful basket of cookie

nor had they an overwhelming jar of jelly.

My Little Pink Riding Hoods

went out to the woods

started out humbly with almost nothing

the evil wolf notwithstanding,

they do come back with a little something...

My Little Pink Riding Hood,

in her Grade 1 CW class assembly,

presented 'My Aunt Came Back' song

about countries in the world, if not wrong

with her classmates all along.

Being the lead

whom Ms Claire had carefully picked,

my Little Pink Riding Hood stood up

and threw a question to open up
"Who remembers the countries that we sang about?"

which the audience responded with no doubt.

My Little Pink Riding Hood

on two separate days, came back from the wood

with a basket full of these sweeeeeeeeeet cookies in her hood...

--------------------

My other Little Pink Riding Hood

on another day came back from the wood

with no basket of cookie

but a jar of jolly sweeeeeeeeeet jelly...

My other Little Pink Riding Hood

in her Grade 4 LF class assembly

was one of the three main characters

in a skit on 'Heroes and Legends' though no actors.

Tomorrow (26th Feb)

at the International Festival of Literature

my other Little Pink Riding Hood

will be staging 'Little Red Riding Hood'

with seven other girls in the same wood.

One girl becomes the wolf and another girl plays the little red riding hood
but my other Little Pink Riding Hood

with the rest five who Ms Lee considers good

will be reciting the poem 'Little Red Riding Hood'.

So, come over tomorrow

with no gloom or sorrow

to this International Fringe Festival thingy

that will be held at Dubai Festival City.

We always say

to our Little Pink Riding Hoods

never forget to say

thank you Allah whenever you pray.

May our Little Pink Riding Hoods

live happily ever after. Amiin.

The end.

-domestic engineer in da house

Dubai, UAE

25th Feb '09 (5.21 am)

p/s- Atuk, Wan, Atuk Salih dan nenek selalu tanya camana Along dan Ain sekolah kat sini? Macam ni la...Along dan Ain suka sekolah kat sini. Kalau Ayah dan Ibu balik nanti, Along dan Ain nak terus sekolah kat sini, boleh tak?

Macam-macam Apit 2

Hi! My name is Afiq. I'm four years old. Ayah dan Ibu kata Apit nak school bulan 9 nanti.

Hari tu, Apit telefon Wan kat Rembau. Wan kata dah lama tak tengok gambar Apit. Ni ensem tak rambut pacak Apit, Wan? he he

Apit suka main power rangers, Spiderman, Superman and Ben 10. Apit nak pakai face mask, Ayah Ibu tak nak belikan. Apit pakai la spenda power rangers Apit letak atas kepala, pastu pakai stokin kat tangan, baru bole main lawan-lawan. Best...

Apit sayang Ayah dan Ibu. Apit happy sebab hari ni Ayah tak pegi Iran, tak pegi Egypt. Kalau Ayah pegi Iran dengan pegi Egypt, Apit selalu letak selipar Apit kat dalam selipar Ayah. Apit selalu cakap Ayah ensem, Ayah pun selalu cakap Apit ensem.

Apit suka makan roti bakar dengan Nutella. Roti bakar tu 'shebet' (favourite) Apit. Kalau Ibu penat, Apit selalu minta Along atau Kakak buatkan roti bakar. Kadang-kadang Along marah Apit minta roti bakar sebab Along tengah buat homework. Lepas makan roti bakar dengan Nutella, Ibu cakap mulut dengan pipi Apit comot kena Nutella. Haa...tengok, mana ada comot, tak comot pun haa.

Hari tu Apit tengah main 'pushka-pushka' (lawan-lawan power rangers), Apit terjatuh. Pipi Apit kena kat bucu kabinet TV. Apit nangis...tapi bukan sebab sakit. Apit boy, Apit strong. Apit nangis sebab Ibu marah Apit lari-lari kan dah jatuh...Ayah kat Iran masa tu. Ibu sapu minyak gamat kat pipi Apit, pastu Ibu tuam dengan towel. Malam tu masa Apit 'chit' ngan Ayah kat Iran Ibu send gambar pipi Apit tu kat Ayah. Ayah kata sian Apit.

Apit suka 'ninum' susu. Bangun pagi dengan sebelum tidur malam, Apit selalu minta Ibu buatkan susu. Kalau Ayah tak pegi Iran, tak pegi Egypt, Ayah yang buatkan susu Apit.

Lepas 'ninum' susu, Apit bawa kawan-kawan Apit masuk tido. Kawan-kawan Apit ada 5 - (dari kiri) Ohok-ohok (sebab penguin ni ada bunyi ohok-ohok bila Apit gerakkan tapi Apit kata 'tenuin'), Sotong, Bumble (bunny), Edi (the elephant with eyes open) dan Eli (the elephant with eyes closed yang pakai baju tu). Kawan-kawan Apit tu sume tido kat sebelah Apit malam-malam. Apit selalu cakap kat Ibu...susunkan kawan-kawan Apit. Kalau Ayah tak pegi Iran, tak pegi Egypt, Apit cakap Ayah susunkan kawan-kawan Apit. Pastu Apit selimutkan dia. Kadang-kadang Ayah Ibu buat-buat tido tak nak susunkan kawan-kawan Apit. Apit nangis Apit ngantuk nak susun sendiri.

Ok la Atuk, Wan, Atuk Salih dan Nenek, Apit nak tido dulu ni. Good nite...jumpa lagi.

Fine Fun Friday

We started our Friday morning at Mirdiff Park. It has become a weekly activity for Malaysians in UAE to come here for recreations. Here, they come to play volleyball or tennis, and the kids would choose soccer. (Hubby's in that green and yellow T-shirt).

The mothers can spend time jogging or simply accompanying their kids at the children playground. This was my first time coming here (and second time for hubby). We'd wanted to come here to join the activities long before this but just couldn't do so. Alhamdulillah, it did materialise today. Along, Ain and Apit were having fun at this playground.

Not to forget, there's also another interesting activity going on here among Malaysians every Friday. Don't be surprised if you find the selling of nasi lemak, nasi kerabu, nasi goreng kampung, mee goreng and karipap here he he...So, we had a delicious brunch of nasi kerabu and karipap that day, the homemade recipe from one cek mek molek Kelate Mas, delicious of course...Along tak cukup satu nasi kerabu...sedaap giler Along kata he he. Since the nasi kerabu sedap giler, it finished before I could snap the picture of it. Next week probably will take photo of it (Mas, buat lagi nasi kerabu, pleaseee...) :-)

Sambil makan nasi kerabu sedap Mas tu dan bersembang-sembang, banyak pula kapal terbang yang dok melintas atas kepala. This park is near to Dubai International Airport. Managed to capture the pic of this Emirates latest edition of AirBus A380. I wish I can fly in this two-storey airplane (err tapi kapal terbang 2 tingkat ni terbang ke Malaysia ke tak..).

The same Friday evening, we attended a farewel makan-makan event for a Malaysian who's coming back for good. The gathering was held at a Malaysian senior's house at At Twar 3 - can be said as a 'favourite' hang out place for any makan-makan gathering here.

While the mothers were busy in the kitchen, the men performed Maghrib prayer.

I brought bread pudding to complement much, much more delicious Malaysian delicacies served - nasi ayam, nasi tomato with dalca gravy and masak ayam merah, laksa asam and a few other desserts - all homemade ones. The nasi ayam, nasi tomato and laksa asam can jual one, I tell you...hi hi..

The video session followed the eating session. We were full that night Alhamdulillah...but still we were packed with the leftover food. Thank you daun keladi... :-)

When Ibn Battuta Came To Dubai

Did Ibn Battuta come to Dubai? No, he didn't. However, as a famous 14th century Arab (Moroccan) traveler and adventurer, he is very much remembered in Dubai. Thus, our visit to Ibn Battuta Mall recently has not only answered some of my curiosity but most important of all, my kids - Along, Ain and Apit got to learn about this great Muslim explorer in an entertaining way.

Along, Ain and Apit were enjoying themselves at Ibn Battuta Mall - the only shopping mall where you can view historical icons, learn facts about Ibn Battuta the traveler, and combines education and entertainment under one roof. By coming here, our kids could, in a way, learn that Ibn Battuta was a man of great vision and strong Islamic values. It is the first ever shopping complex inspired by an individual's life six centuries after he embarked on his renowned journey.

Being the world's largest themed shopping mall, it consists of six themed courts namely, Andalusia, Tunisia, Egypt, Persia, India and China – which are named after the six regions that Ibn Battuta explored. Each region is reflected in the architecture and theme of the mall’s six courts. These courts strongly project the historical and cultural richness of this Arabian icon’s life which, in a way, is hoped to give an inspiration to all those who visit.

We captured this at Egypt court. Magnificent, isn't it?

Laa...ni sapa pula ambil gambar Ayah, Ibu dan Apit dari belakang ni...??

Since it is a large and long mall, we didn't manage to explore all the six courts at one round...tiring. We missed China and Andalusia courts which are located at both ends of the mall. We will surely make another visit here next time.

Ain was crying that we didn't allow her to be in that Sky Dubai. We did promise Along, Ain and Apit that the next time we come here, we will be flying in that yellow hot air balloon.

Glad that there is a shopping mall here where we do not only get the entertainment (for me window shopping, of course...) but also education. Thus, one of the the mall's targets to provide edutainment seems to be right.

10 Revealing Facts About Me...

It's not the award that matters, it's the thought that counts. Thanks so much Eiyda, I really appreciate this. Yup, it has long been overdue but the things I have to answer here are still and will always be relevant...as they are all about me and no one but me.

The rules to receiving this award are:

1. Copy the badge above and paste it in your blog.

2. Tell about the person who has given you this award. In my case, it's Eiyda, the sweet lovely lady whose Laksam Kelate yummmm...you can never resist!

3. As this award will never be given for free, you will have to state 10 hobbies/facts about you.

4. You have to choose 10 other blogger friends to be the next recipients for this award and name them here.

5. Visit the next recipients' blogs and tell them that they have been tagged.

In this case, this tag has long been overdue therefore, I don't intend to pass it to my other blogger friends. I'm afraid it stops here.

So now I'm disclosing myself in these 10 facts about me...

1). I'm the sixth out of eight siblings.

2). Was born in Malacca, my kampung is Kuala Sg Baru, Malacca, grew up and parents' house in Port Dickson, N.S. Never have a Kelantanese blood but on several occasions, people have somehow mistaken me as a Kelantanese at first sight...Pasir Mas to be specific! (still wondering why...???)

3). Wear a wrist watch on my right wrist. My other half also wears a watch on his right wrist...what a coincidence!

4). Dislike perfume. The smell can cause me a headache. Luckily, my other half can't stand perfume too! I would choose baby cologne for it has a soft and sweet smell.

5). Love reading novels both in English and BM. For BM novels, I would choose the female authors however, for English novels, the male authors will always be my choice.

6). Cannot live without teh tarik. By 10.00 am, if I still haven't got teh tarik, I tend to get a headache he he...It started as just a joke amongst my colleagues but has somehow turned out to be a reality.

7). Am always impressed with bilinguists - individuals who are EQUALLY proficient in both English and BM and can do code switching very smoothly. Paling bengang dengan orang Melayu yang tak 'gheti' cakap Melayu.

8). My main weakness - procrastination.

9). Choose to be quiet when angry or upset.

10). May sometimes appear to be a reserved person when in a small group conversation. I'm more an observer than a talker. However, I will turn out to be a 'somewhat different person' when talking in front of an audience. I like public speaking. Always took parts in competitions that have something to do with public speaking when I was in a primary school as well as in a secondary school. (Tapi tak la terrer mana pun. Achievement paling tinggi pun setakat tempat ke 3 peringkat negeri je). At this age, no more public speaking competitions for me. At this age, I've always liked the honour of being the MC/emcee. By profession, English has always been my medium but being the MC, so far it has always been in BM (and pantun has always been my trademark). Seems like now in Dubai I have to 'bersara sekejap' from this thing that I so enjoy doing. I really like it when I can charm an audience with my words.

p/s - Eiyda, sorry for not being able to do the other tag as it is about new year, and I feel it's too late for me already.

My Guts Brought Me Here...Sahara Centre

Despite keeping my fingers crossed praying for a speedy recovery of my father, I am aware that our life here has to go on. I cannot just stay at home worrying myself away.

With that in mind, the kids and I made our presence at Sumaiyyah's birthday party held at Adventureland, Sahara Centre last Thursday night. I was bound to turn down the invitation due to my usual reasons. However, Sumaiyyah's mom is a person who does not take "my husband is not around or we have no transportation" as reasons not to give her sincerest invitation to us to join in the fun. Her insistence had made me change my preconception of not going anywhere whenever hubby was not around. Probably it's not too much to say that her sincerest invitation had melted my heart. Furthermore, Sahara Center is a shopping mall and it's easy to get a taxi to and from any shopping malls as compared to other places. That made me confident to go there with my kids especially when hubby had given me a green light through sms.

I'd never been to Sahara Centre before. When I googled Sahara Centre, this pic appeared. Its appealing ambience seems to be welcoming. Moreover, it is a shopping mall and it is Dubai Shopping Festival (DSF) now!!! ha ha ha...At last, I succumbed to the temptations to go there.

Started operating 7 years ago, who would have believed that it was once standing in the middle of a desert.

This Adventureland is like an indoor Genting Highlands with many thrilling rides and games that children surely can't resist and parents will surely have a hole in their pockets. Most interestingly, it is the largest indoor family entertainment centres not only in UAE but also in the Middle East.

Before heading to this Adventureland, the kids and I looked for a prayer room for our Maghrib prayer because we left the house after Asar around 4.45pm. It took us 45 minutes before we managed to get a taxi because it was peak hour and almost all taxi drivers tried to avoid to go to Sharjah area at that hour due to the heavy traffic jam. Luckily, there was a good samaritan still willing to take us there.

Sumaiyyah with her sweet mommy, Shiela.

After performing Maghrib prayer, we saw a large Toys 'R' Us on the way to the Adventureland. It was just nice as we hadn't bought any birthday present yet for Sumaiyyah. I really didn't know that there's a Toys 'R' Us in UAE. I met a few other friends who were also looking for presents. Then, we headed straight to the room where Sumaiyyah's birthday party was held. This two-year-old cute little Sumaiyyah seemed not to be aware of what was going on around her although it was her party he he he...

Along and Ain were enjoying themselves with other friends in the games carried out even though they looked a bit too shy as they were not used to attending such a birthday party. There were more than 20 children altogether - boys and girls.

Apit and little Sumaiyyah. They are just friends, no gossiping ok...he he

Anak sapakah yang chumel ini...?

After the games and and eating session, the children were released to the castle playground in the adjoining room. Along, Ain and Apit were really making the most of it as their requests to be playing in the castle playground at Berjaya Times Square have always fallen on our deaf ears. I was really happy to see them happy.

Before the party ended, each children was given a voucher and an Adventurecard each. A voucher is for one free ride and the card values 20 dhs which can be used at anytime and reloaded once finished. Woww...thank you soooo much Sumaiyyah, Auntie Shiela and Uncle Ma'ju for giving us all those...Along, Ain and Apit said happily. Since we had to leave early to catch a taxi, I told Along, Ain and Apit that the vouchers and cards could wait until their father came home from Egypt.

So, as promised that Saturday hubby drove us to Sahara Centre with a mission - to let Along, Ain and Apit use up all the vouchers and cards to enjoy the rides, and also to let Ibu window shopping and/or shopping (hari tu tak sempat kann kena balik awal he he...the 40%, 50% discounts seolah memanggil-manggil...).

There was this acrobatic show or something...

Along had wanted so much to ride this Adventure Train and asked Ibu to accompany her since Ain didn't dare to and Apit was too small. At last, her father was on the train with her. (Jangan cakap orang, sebenarnya Ibu pun tak berani hi hi...)

Ain and Apit wanted to have a ride on this Barnstormer. It looked okay and not frightening, so all the five of us enjoyed it. Real fun...should try it again next time.

Along asked permission to try this Tidal Wave and a roller coaster. Hohoho...tada berani ooo...So, no Tidal Wave and no roller coaster.


After all the fun rides, Along, Ain and Apit tried their hands at some of the games. Here, we don't have to slot in coins, instead just swipe the Adventurecard at the machines. Ayah also tried his shooting skills he he...

We had so much fun at Sahara Centre. Ayah and Ibu were really happy to see Along, Ain and Apit overjoyed with the joyous experience there. (Ibu could be happier if could grab a pair or two pairs of blouse or shoes...too bad tak sempat juga ish...).

My father, without a...

Jan 28 - My father was transferred to Hospital Tuanku Jaafar, Seremban in an ambulance.
Jan 29 - He had to undergo a surgery for a diabetic foot ulceration or sepsis that he's been suffering from for the past few weeks (or months). It was a minor one though as the doctor just wanted to remove the pus produced on the infected part on his right toes.
Jan 30 - He looked more cheerful than he was for the past few days although still dehydrated. If anything went well, he could be discharged tomorrow. I was relieved.
Jan 31 - He texted to say thanks to Along, Ain and Apit for 'writing' the long warkah for him. Apparently, their Mak Ngah had printed it and passed it over to him to read in the ward. Couldn't imagine how he must've felt when reading it...
Feb 1 - No sign he would be discharged today.
Feb 2 - My eldest brother texted me telling that father would have to undergo a second surgery. It seemed that the first one wasn't enough for father's present conditon. But this time, I was told that he didn't sound as worried as he was before the first surgery. Probably, he was mentally prepared now. - Angah texted saying father looked healthy after the surgery and had the appetite to eat. Alhamdulillah.
Feb 3 - I texted my father asking his condition today and when he would be discharged from the hospital. He said he didn't know yet, probably tomorrow...Really hope so. He sounded so optimistic.

One thing’s for certain, my father will be leaving the hospital without a toe on his right foot.