Good Bye 2015, Welcome 2016!!!

It has been a LOOOOOONG time since I last blogged.

I swear I have every intention to keep this bloggoing, but I guess I need to manage my time better to make way for blogging as well.

 It's been a great year, 2015 has. Aisyah has started Year 1, Zayd weaned off breast milk at age 2 years and 5 months, we've remodeled the house, my dad remarried, went on holidays several time to various water theme parks, bought a new car, supervised new students, published 3 journals, did some fundraising activities with the students, and so many more blessings.

Oh, I also gained a lot of weight this year. Am working towards shedding them all off by the second quarter of next year, heh. 

Will miss 2015, but at the same time excited for what's in store 2016.

Happy new year, everyone! May 2016 brings us all health and wealth, and may our Imaan also increase as we age yet another year older. And may this blog re-flourishes again, at the rate that it once was.

Love you all, Oyis

 

Giggles at Play Session

This is Zayd and his cousin, Muslihin. Muslihin is my middle brother's second son, only two months younger than Zayd. Developmentally, they are about the same so it is so cute to capture them playing nicely together, especially since they are very territorial against one another most of the time (cousin rivalry?)

The pics and video is nothing out of the ordinary. Good to watch on a slow day at work if you need a pick-me-up session from giggling toddlers, hehe...

Saya Sayang Ibu Saya

I saw Aisyah's handwriting on her memo pad which she uses to scribble and doodle earlier today. 

It says, "Saya sayang Ibu saya". 

 How sweet!!! 

And although she doesn't know it, her wish couldn't have been more timely for it is Mothering Sunday (oe Mother's Day as we all know it) in the UK. I've written long, long ago about how the UK celebrates Mother's Day every third Sunday of the month of March, as opposed to the USA's May celebration of the same occasion which we are more accustomed to in Malaysia. 

Thankyou very much, Aisyah. I am so proud of you, especially since your spelling and handwriting have improved so much over the years. 

I love you with all my heart too, Sweet Pea.

PS: Below are some other notes she has written in her small memo pad. Perhaps she is suggesting something there but it never got picked up by her Dad? We should've ate out, ordered Carbonara, chicken chop and mashed potatoes with Milo Ais and Teh O Ais, and rounded it off with vanilla and chocolate icecream. Not bad for a Mother's Day treat, Aisyah!

PS2: Clearly she needs to polish her spelling at this stage, but her phonics are already in place and her writing is neat, Alhamdulillah. 

 

Selamat Pengantin Baru... Ayah

9 Mac 2015 - This date marked a significant change in our family.

Our Dad got married.

It was a small Nikah ceremony on the bride's side. The groom (my Dad)'s side will be held at a later date. 

My Dad met this lady upon his friend's recommendation. They shared a lot in common, and before long, they decided to tie the knot. In fact, Dad told us he was going to get married the previous week. So it had been crazy trying to get it wrapped around our heads, and much crazier for my SIL who volunteered to do the hantaran to get everything done in time. But she had, Alhamdulillah... and the wedding went as smooth as could be.

It's been an emotional roller coaster for me. Of course I am happy for my Dad, but at the same time, it's very sad when I think about my late Mom. But life must go on for the living, and I wish them all the happiness in the world and hereafter.

Welcome to the family, Ma (my now step-mother). Iols can be Cinderella now, got stepmother oneee hehe...

More on Zayd's 2nd Birthday

Boy, if Aisyah knew Zayd had three consecutive airtime on this blog, she would be so jaded. She can read, but she is yet to know of this blog's existence hehe.

But she really wasn't as jealous as I had made her sound. She was quite willing to help last night, going out shopping with me - just the two of us girls, no Zayd, no Ayah - for food stuff and mini toys to put in Zayd's party pack which he will bring to his minder today. We even stopped by the bakery to get him a cake to take to the minder's too. Eh, didn't we say no more cake last entry? @_@

The party pack is just of something small, but a way for us to have Zayd celebrate with his friends. He's two years old, and probably won't remember much of his friends if we (or any one of them) were to move from the care of our beloved minder, but I know that through the minder's care, and with the interaction from the other children which she is caring for, did Zayd learn and acquire so much. He learned how to walk, talk, run, play, memorizing other children's names, laugh, gigit org, tgk Ultraman, the concept of sharing, and so much more with the group of friends under the same roof. So this is our way of saying thanking for being part of Zayd's developmental growth.

All right, here are some pics. Kakak was ever more the helpful packing things together for his brother. Zayd was being 'helpful' too. So last2 I gave him a few sticker and he went wild. Atas dahi sendiri pun tampal. 

Zayd's Birthday Meal

Went out on Sunday (Zayd's actual 2nd birthday) to eat out. Only somewhere near home as we were quite tight with time. We hope to have another bigger celebration with our families soon.

Anyway, just because Zayd is always understated in this blog, here's some pics AND a video of the birthday boy.

We love you, Zayd!!! Hope you had a smashing birthday, just like your cake (you had decided to smash your piece after you thought you were full hehe...)

PS: Zayd doesn't normally eat that much sweet food, but he certainly was overdosed on sugar that Sunday. That night, he finally slept at 2 a.m. We are never, ever to repeat this. EVER.

Zayd Is Two years Old

Alhamdulillah Ahmad Zayd Alhadi turns two today.

1 Mac 2013, jam 12.33 tghari, lahirlah anakanda aku yg kedua dgn selamatnya. Rasa mcm dah lama jg dah bersalin tu, tp memori hari tu mmg Insya Allah tak akan dilupakan.

At 2 years old, mcm2 Zayd dah pandai buat. He is generally a sweet kid, ready to love, kiss and joke. He still loves his 'susu' (menyusu badan). He runs fast, loves football, and from the looks of it, has a knack at 'mengelecek' bola and his kicks are not too bad, if I can say so myself. 

He is a fan of Upin Ipin, Boboiboy and Ultraman. He's quite used to using mobile devices, and watches these shows on them. He can play one or two computer games, like bowling and basketball, but his favourite is by far BasketMania which he calls 'Yo! Baling'.

Even before he enters the 2 y.o. zone, he has already shown that he has mastered the 'Tantrum Two' stage. Although it can be emotionally draining for me, I take it positively by assuming that he is mature beyond his age hehe...

Having conversation with Zayd is such a pleasure. His vocab is vast for a two-year-old, is not pelat, and is in context. Most of the time, he is polite, will Salam an adult if asked to do so, and always says his 'Terima Kasihs'. Sometimes lps ckp terima kasih, dia ckp 'Sama-sama' juga, sendiri ckp sendiri jawab, the polite boy that he is hehe... Masuk rumah he will give his Salams too, kdg2 jawab sekali. He's been caught singing several times too, notably songs from Upin Ipin such as the 'Lagu Boria'. Mari semuaaaa... 

He loves water so much, that every bath time it's a struggle to get him out of the bathroom. Same goes when we go swimming or to any waterpark. He is happy to stay in the water dari pagi sampai closing hours. Penangan mengandungkan dia terlajak lebih air ketuban kot - causing him to float atop always dalam uterus, the reason why I had to have an elective c-section sbb Dr knew Zayd would not go down the birth canal sbb dia terapung.

Oh Zayd, Mummy feels so blessed to have you. I pray that you grow up to be Hamba Allah yg soleh, taatkan ibubapa, bijak, berjaya dan berguna dunia akhirat. Semoga Allah lanjutkan usia Zayd dalam keberkatanNya, dan jadikanlah Mummy ibu yg sabar dan berhemah menangani challenges parenting a boy :)

This year, a little less No and a little more OK ye. And to wean off BFing. Plus to sleep early sket ye Zayd. And somewhere this year we have to fit in toilet training too. Two is such a great age. His independence and personality show a bit more, but is still cute and cuddly to carry around. Hehe.

Happy Birthday Ahmad Zayd Alhadi. I love you so much!!!

Teaching Load

"Oyis, dalam sehari, berapa jam ek ko kena mengajar?"

"Em.. dalam SEMINGGU, enam jam kot. Kalo kena ajar kelas Master, sembilan jam."

"ENAM JAM SEMINGGU??? Perghhh... kalo cikgu tu enam jam tu mengajar dalam sehari."

*memandang aku dengan keji*

I get this a lot.

I know what people are thinking. Enam jam seminggu, what am I doing with the rest of my time? Right?

SIGH.

I am pretty tired of trying to explain this. I know being a lecturer seems the most flexible work option, and it is. But, six hours of teaching does not equate to six hours of work. In order to obtain the materials for the six hours of teaching, I need to probably spend around 15 hours of prep work. Seriously. Like drawing out the notes, reading up materials, updating myself, drafting assignment questions, planning Student-Centred Learning activities, etc.. etc... Tu belum masuk bab marking, drafting exam questions dan sebagainya. 

I don't like to compare the workload with Guru, but since everybody is, here's the deal: Teachers dah ada kurikulum dia sendiri that they must follow, and some of the materials dah ready-made (buku aktiviti itself dah byk membantu), but to us lecturers, we have to start everything from scratch. Don't get me wrong, I love the opportunity to be creative - teach what you want to teach as long as it doesn't stray too far from the course content, teach how I like it, when I like it. But, with very loose structure, we tend to have to do the bulk of the work on our own. This is not to say yg kerja Guru ringan. No, kerja diorg dah melambak jg, dan makin berat dan maybe even underpay. I have my highest respect for Guru2. Takde isu di situ. The problem I have is with people yg mengeji my work. 

By the by, teaching is only 35% of my workload je ladies and gentleman. The rest is supervision and research. Supervision is tiring. Masalah student adalah masalah kita. Imagine kalo sorg student jumpa, tak pernah less than one hour. Ni meeting tiap2 minggu ni ok. So like me kalo ada 4 postgrad students yg I currently supervise (as main supervisor, belum lg cerita kalo kita jd co-supervisor), how many hours is that? To yg face-to-face la. But sebelum student tu dtg, I have to read up some journals, baca draft diorg, correct paper diorg, etc, etc... It probably takes 2-3 hour of background work dulu. It's basically like doing PhD all over again. Do you want to do my job?

Then yg undergrads pun ada Final Year Project diorg which I have to supervise jgk. Although minor je project diorg on the scheme of things, but they can be very clingy and unsure. Letih gak nak tolong. And again, each student about 30 minutes meet. Prep time before meet usually 30 minutes jgk. 

Then of course, meeting, bengkel, kursus, seminar yg kena tunjuk muka and also event2 wajib Uni. Waktu senggang tulis paper or journal. Or isi borang apply geran. Kalau dah ada geran, isi buku progress research. Oh lupa nak mention. Buat research. Sometimes that involves coding, sometimes kena semuka dgn org, kadang kena turun naik pejabat kerajaan pun ada, tgk la research apa.

I know kerja org lain pun byk jg. I am in no way saying kerja org lain senang. But to be perceived as kerja paling senang, boleh gi shopping sokmo waktu opis hour adalah statement yang mengundang pelempang agak tidak tepat. 

And anyway, if my job seems easy to you, then apply lah jadi lecturer. Tukar career. Bukan susah pun. Kena ada degree, Master and then complete PhD. Mudah je. Plus or minus 10 years belajar.Lps tu dah boleh mengajar 6 jam seminggu. Kan? 

PS: Malam2 sambung mengajar Aisyah plak. Minggu ni Ujian Bulanan dia, so mmg overtime. Lps makan malam sampai almost bedtime buat revision. Dalam gmbr kat atas dia pakai tudung sbb masuk rumah je terus siapkan kerja sekolah, tudung tak tanggal, baju tak salin, tgh2 org azan Maghrib tu jam2 tu jgk nak buat. Bila sekolah aliran agama, mmg workload dia byk. So many subjects to revise. Tapi budak2 kecik amaze me. Baca sekali dia dah ingat dah material (bukan Aisyah sahaja, but kids in general). Impressive. Hati suci la katakan bukan macam aku.