Saturdays

...I forgot what happened on Friday :/

But yesterday was an eventful day!

1. Mama, Kak Shidah and me went to Andalus

I am SO excited to do DPIA! That means once I start DPIA next year, I'll be taking "Double Diplomas"!

IB Diploma + part time DPIA

I love all the modules! And it will be discussion based an everything! :D I can't wait to make new friends. Kak Shidah will be in the same class as me...which is GREAT! We get to share our ideas and everything. She is the more Rash(onal)idah one...((:

2. Me and Kak Shidah went to Woodlands Regional library

I got two more books for my EE! YAY!

Landmarks of Selangor

This really is a beautiful book. I am so amazed by the watercolour paintings. Every single detail was captured in these paintings...the lines, the strokes, the hues. Its so calming. ♥

Shapers of Modern Malaysia

This doesn't have much information about shophouses. But its really useful in regards to architectural influences (:

3. Met Eunice (:

Dhania actually planned this, but hey, meeting one member of DENZ is good enough for me. Besides, I already met Zah during LPPI ♥

I seriously need to try this ❤

Thursday

As usual, Thursdays are HCA Hospice Days! Here were the highlights (:

I arrived just as lunch ended...so that means I can have lunch myself!

I carefully selected two popiahs, a ladleful of mushroom & veggie soup...and some rice. I seriously need to lessen my carbo intake. But anyway, once I sat down next to Cik Daniar, I salam-ed her and she told me about how she was unsure if the food was halal.

I didn't say anything much (since I was eating), I only made sounds like, "Mmm" or "Eh?" or "E ye?" (Is it?). She was telling me:

Cik Daniar: Die orang cakap boleh makan, Cik makanlah...

Then I kinda zoned out a little and I found myself recapping my Andalus lesson about Makanan Syubhat. The Nurses said "Malay can eat, all halal", I figured out that I still had my doubts. So, I played safe and ate only the mushroom & veggie and the popiah (which was so good!). Since I was "was-was"(suspicious) about the rice (although I  had already eaten 1/4 of it) I decided to throw it away. Why would I want to risk

• All my amalan-amalan to be not 'sah' for 40 days

rather than

• Feeling full for the afternoon

Since it wasn't zuhr yet, I decided, "I will go massage someone. Since Cik Daniar isn't keen on massaging, I'll massage her friend next to her, Cik Basha!"

Cik Basha by the way, is so cute. She sleeps so easily and when she asks if I'm tired I say no. The conversation went like this:

Me: Okay, tak?

Cik Basha: Okay...tak penat?

Me: Tak, tak penat.

Cik Basha: Betul ke?

Me: A'aa...kalau saya urut kaki orang, saya macam boleh rasa ketengannya...

Cik Basha: *smiles and nods off to sleep*

At 2pm, I had to pray. So I prayed at the usual place. And I actually decided to pray sunat selepas zuhr there...and coincidentally, while I was folding my telokong, a Male Nurse came in through the back door. It was awkward, so I said

Me: Uh. Sorry...

Him: Sorry, sorry...

Well, he was in a rush, so I guess he couldn't say much but apologise. It really wasn't anything wrong, its partially my fault because I wanted to pray sunat selepas zuhr.

ANYWAY...

When I went up to the Admin Office, I met Kak Faz (she is SO NICE) and her niceness and patience motivated me to do as much admin work as I can! I'm so proud of me!

I have a plan to do a caricature of the admin people who has helped me at the end of my CAS. And also a painting of the muslim patients there :D

Wednesday

...our OFFICIAL FAMILY OUTING!
(and I didn't bring my camera intentionally because then I would be too busy snapping photos rather than enjoying myself going SHOPPING :D )

Malaysia
YUP! We went to Malaysia again (its nearby anyway). I am so thankful that we DID NOT go to Angsana because all they have there is books...and clothes...and....ok ok. I forgot what building we went to, but it was connected to a hotel.

Hotel + shopping mall together = Ultimate tourist attraction!

I told myself to always ingat Allah dahulu, and I did this by zikir-ing and just smiling and keeping quiet when Mama rants.

Anyway, my first impression was "Damn, another shopping mall. Never mind, as long as Mama is happy I will be happy"

BUT FIRST IMPRESSION NEVER LASTS SO...

This mall is HUGE ok. We nearly got lost.

I'll just tell you all about the highlights:

Me & Kak Shidah got new clothes

1. We bought it at a "not-exactly-a-cart-but-not-exactly-a-store". Its like, a space where the store owners rented for an amount of money.
2. Its FLORAL & LONG-SLEEVED
3. And "no-need-to-iron" jumpers :D

We had pizza cones

1. They were halal
2. And so freaking delicious.

Me, Dalilah and Kak Shidah watched Rise of The Guardians

1. My favourite Guardian is Toothfairy :3
2. Sandman is adorable (I'm so glad his sand is gold + he weaves dreams with them)
3. Jack Frost found his center (FUN)

Taking lit SL made me realise one of the major themes in the movie: good vs. evil

This is portrayed through Pitch, the bad guy and Good (all the Guardians in general). Its also reflective in the use of colours and shadows.

Pitch: Always black/lurking in the shadows/negotiating the Good to come to the Bad

(basically, he's a loser because in the end his own nightMARES turn against him. Hah!) 

Guardians

Sandman: Mute, but uses his ability to weave dreams. (The Sand is gold!) He "dies" but comes back again because the children believe in him. (Hence, Guardians are mortals)

Santa Claus: He knows his center. He is jovial, has the spirit of competition when he is helping Tooth Fairy distribute teeth :B

Jack Frost: The protagonist; his desire to find out his path. His ambition 'blinds' him because he was too concerned about his own 'memory' (he has to go through the tedious task of collecting his memory capsule so "conveniently" located at Pitch's lair), he forgets about the task at hand, that is to get the children to believe again

Easter Bunny: Love his accent! Especially when children forget his existence, he becomes a CUTE FLUFFY BUNNY.

Tooth Fairy: Her optimism and gentleness is inspiring! You can really see her dedication towards maintaining good Oral Hygiene. (She is a friend to all dentists in the world)

Sundays

Finally! A Sunday...
since 2009, Sundays have been my 'rest days' because on Saturdays, I have Andalus. Apparently, I still do next year (yay!). I will elaborate this below (:

Monday
I cut a fringe! And this time Mama didn't follow me. I just went down to my favourite auntie's hair salon and told her the instructions myself. I am pretty thankful that Mama DIDN'T come with me. The fact that she is there immediately puts pressure on myself to please her, not me. But she didn't come, so that's really okay. (:

I paid with my own money too (yay responsibility). The reason why I like this Auntie so much is because she never ceases to make me look pretty. Whenever I want my hair short (definition of short in Mama's terms: Below the ears), she will layer my hair. Of course I love layered hair! Its so "swooshy" :D

Anyway, going down to the hair salon was a big deal for me at that time. Plus, I'm going to Ngee Ann i n 2014 (InsyaAllah) so I can wear tudong! Might as well experiment with a real fringe before its too late :P

Tuesday
Ichiban(Yunnan) Childcare: I'm back at the Childcare again! :D

That's me in the middle teaching the N1 kids. They are overwhelmingly adorable that I look past their 'little' mistakes. That's my problem, because I'm not firm enough with the kids. Alhamdulillah Cik Ani is there to supervise me. She is really firm, compared to me. (Because their cuteness overwhelms me). There's this boy Shue Kai (I'm not sure if that's how you spell his name) He is so obedient, but he seeks attention. But when you're firm with him, he will listen. (Hence, I have to be more assertive to N1 kids)

K1 children are much more well-behaved compared to N1 (bcos they're a year older). They will share when you tell them to share gently.  Example:

Girl with the paisley tights: *starts telling me her story about swimming while she colours an picture of the ocean*

Girl who didn't come yesterday: *trying to make an effort in colouring yesterday's homework*

This is a situation in which I have to decide who to give my attention to. Alhamdulillah I chose to motivate the Girl who didn't come yesterday to quickly finish up her worksheet so that she can continue the current day's work. Girl with paisely tights noted my change in attention, so she got back to her work.

But...this didn't last long.

Girl with paisely tights complained: Teacher! See, she never do her work.

Me: She is doing, see? She is colouring the alphabets from N to Z. (My name initials! Huhuhu...but obviously I didn't say that out loud)

Times like this, I have to move to another table if Teacher Rani isn't supervising already (:

Oh here's my reply to Cik Ani (Principal of Ichiban(Yunnan) Childcare Center)

AND...I took the train home myself. Next Tuesday I can leave the house after Subuh so that Mama won't have to send me! :DD

Alhamdulillah I'm reading Catherine Lim's book "The Song of Silver Frond" ♥

ps: 2017 edit – nurul never went to the poly she wanted to go to after she graduated from SOTA. instead she was offered a place in NTU, ADM and she's content with her progress as a student. Alhamdulillah for everything.