Wednesday, March 26, 2008

I am at quandary

I am at quandary between changing the school for my daughter and keeping her where she is.

Why do I want to change?

The owner of the school and her sister who is one of the teachers in the school is showing too clearly how untrained and unexperienced they are. Most recent example, my daughter's finger was burnt with glue from a glue gun. Why do they have to use gun guns for a craft for 2 year olds is beyond me. They claimed that the glue gun is the only glue strong enough to put the button on the tin cans wrapped with crepe paper. She even went on to say that my little one was , I quote, their "guinea pig," the first child to do the craft and thus her finger because they didn't realize that the glue was hot.

How incredibly stupid!

Why I keep sending her there?

1)Convenience. The school is within the compound, thus 5 mins walk away.

2)Familiarity. The other children in the compound goes there too including my little one's best friend. She plays with them in school as well as in the afternoons at the skate park and play ground.

3)Cost factor. Sending her to a school outside the compound means more money on transport. That or we would have to get a driver.

In general she is doing well in school. Partly because she is used to it and partly because she is excited to see her best friend Mariam in school. She enjoys her singing sessions and I even caught her singing to herself. I often hear her chant "Eeee ya eee yaa yooo."





I am not the only one unhappy with the school. I guess us mothers tolerate it because its convenient. But I am not sure if I can live with myself with the excuse of convenience.

I have only just begun to enjoy my free time. Not that my time is free mind you, I have a planned schedule for everyday of the 3 days in school. If I didn't send her to school, I wouldn't have the time for my own self development with sewing, Reiki and Yoga. And I believe that I will be a better mother with all that.

And what do we do on the two days she isn't in school you asked? On Saturdays is our bonding time, either spent on the bus or whatever strikes us, be it painting, collecting flowers/leaves or even climbing trees.



And look what she was up to last Saturday:



We were examining the trunks of trees and she wanted to feel whats its like being on one.

And on Wednesdays, we have Kindermusik with Hanna,






Kindermusik is coming to an end though. We no longer will be doing Our Time but will switch to ABC and Me programme if we have 12 people together. I'm hoping that we can round out 12 people!

Are you interested?

Monday, March 17, 2008

Life lessons

Hoooraaay! I just need to sew a little bit more and will be done with my challange quilt and I don't have to sort out my demo till later.

1) I must remember to be here and now and not rushed off my feet going 200km/hr and then feeling lost after. Yesterday was one of those days I was rushing through things. Didn't have proper conversation with people, looking half stressed. Came home feeling relieved but at the same time a little bit regretful. Perhaps I didn't take enough people. Perhaps I didn't make the effort to make proper conversation. Perhaps I forgot to thank a few people.

I must remember to be present in the here and now, to enjoy each moment as it unfold.

2) Keeping in touch, even if its a one line email is very important. [Re: I have a few emails and even smses I have yet to reply.] It may seem like it can wait or unimportant to me but may be important to the other person.

3)Learning to let go
Whatever grievances I may have, I must learn to deal with it, put it past me and move on. Because if I don't. I'd just be bitter and catty. Especially if the issue is long past and everyone else has moved on.

Its amazing how the short interaction I had yesterday yield 3 more new life lessons for me.

Friday, March 07, 2008

A peek into their lives

One of the most interesting aspects of life on the road, is the opportunity to meet new people, of different professions and backgrounds. They provided insights into some life lessons and experiences, some of which I would not have the opportunity to peek otherwise.

The two gentlemen were ex-armed forces, here on business. One recounted to us his experiences in wartime Bosnia. The other was his trainer.

The third is a heart surgeon, born of a military family that grew up in hardship. Listening to his stories about his childhood made me realize how lucky I was to have a good childhood. My childhood seemed luxurious compared to his.

Between him and his two siblings and their mum, they shared a can of sardines and rice for lunch and dinner. They had occasional keropok for snacks. How his mum sold keropok and batiks to earn extra money for her children.

His father physically abused his mother, who continued to stay with him despite the children asking her to leave her husband.

He took his ticket out as soon as he could. He went to boarding school and later earned a scholarship to study medicine in England. Through sheer hard work and a strong will, he became a specialist.

More than anything else I learned that we are all only human; The Majors, the heart surgeons, the doctors, the politicians, the songstress, the ambassadors. It may be obvious to others perhaps, but it all drove home for me this time after my conversations with them.

We are all in search of the same thing. Happiness, family and means to pay off our bills and mortgages. We all have the same struggles in life. We all have our own life lessons to learn, and we can all attain everything that we dream for, as long as we believe in ourselves and we work hard to achieve our dreams and goals.

The roads may be different, but the journeys are similar.

Thank you for giving me this insight.

Saturday, March 01, 2008

Putting first things first

My Reiki Teacher Ang@ shared with me an excerpt from Stephen Covey's First things first. He describes a story that one of his associates experienced on a seminar.

In the middle of the lecture the presenter pulled out a wide-mouth jar and placed it on the table, aside to some fist-sized rocks.

"How many of these rocks do you think we can get in the jar?" he asked the audience.

After the students made their guesses, the seminar leader said,

"Okay, let's find out." He put one rock in the jar, then another, then another--until no more rocks would fit. Then he asked, "Is the jar full?"

Everybody could see that not one more of the rocks would fit, so they said, "Yes."

"Not so fast," he cautioned. From under the table he lifted out a bucket of gravel, dumped it in the jar, and shook it. The gravel slid into all the little spaces left by the big rocks. Grinning, the seminar leader asked once more, "Is the jar full?"

A little wiser by now, the students responded, "Probably not."

"Good," the teacher said. Then he reached under the table to bring up a bucket of sand. He started dumping the sand in the jar. While the students watched, the sand filled in the little spaces left by the rocks and gravel. Once more he looked at the class and said, "Now,
is the jar full?"

"No," everyone shouted back.

"Good!" said the seminar leader, who then grabbed a pitcher of water and began to pour it into the jar. He got a quart of water into that jar before he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, the jar is now full. Can anybody tell me the lesson you can learn from this?"

An eager participant spoke up: "Well, there are gaps in your schedule. And if you really work at it, you can always fit more into your life."

"No," the leader said. "That's not the point. The point is this: if I hadn't put those big rocks in first, I would never have gotten them in."

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The story made me think about my big rocks. What are they? And what should I put in first?

My beloved, my little one and my family of course. Then comes my quilting, my reading, my travelling and maybe even my writing. Self improvement also comes in first. I want to be the best person I can be, who is happy, contented and connected. Intellectual development and personal growth. And achieving my dreams and goals.

To have financial independence, to have the house of my dream, to travel all the time to different places, new and old, and to love and be loved. To be an inspiration to my child and at the same time have the capability to inspire her to be the best person she can be in her life. To support her to achieve her full potential.

And my darling, we didn't name you our hope for nothing. We hope that you will achieve better things than we can and go to places we haven't been, even if it is the moon.

I always want you to know that we love you and will always believe in you.


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I brought some wonderful books back from Dubai. Will have to blog about my Dubai trip at a later time. Although the trip was very short, I am very grateful that I have a wonderful and understanding DH who supports me in my interest.

I do digress. I am reading Weekend Life Coach by Lynda Field and oh boy, she is opening some doors for me.