Another way of washing clothes 28 August 2010

Saturday night

En said "
Mommy, come. See, a new way of washing clothes. Put some shampoo into the watergun.  Spray on the clothes and brush with coat brush. "

Restaurant Boston Baru, Klang 28 August 2010

Saturday 6pm

Aunty Shamini D invited us for dinner at a famous restaurant in Klang. It is located at Jalan Kapar, adjacent to Lembaga Tabung Haji, and across the road from 7-Eleven. Map

Fried squid and Hokkien noodle.

Stir fried vegetable and 'Nestum' prawn.

Steamed - la la (clam). The soup is full of chilli and ginger !

It opens at 6pm and the crowd starts to build up from 630pm. (non-halal). There are lots of favourable comments on this restaurant. The price is also reasonable.

Break Out of Your Mind! 28 August 2010

Saturday 230pm.
The workshop  "Break Out of Your Mind, Developing a creative learning mindset with Creativity, Innovation & Self-Expression" by Chong Wai Leng & K V Soon did make an impact on me. It inspires awe in me and hit me hard what amazing children I have.

Left -En playing at the back while we attended the workshop. Gosh, she was wrestling with Arian! 

Right- Our first assignment. We were asked to doodle with a given shape/pattern within 20seconds. The first one was a 'dot'. I paused. My mind was too tensed to think of anything. I remember I need to relax, quick! As I relaxed, the image flowed freely and I doodle a walking odd creature. Next was a 'tick'. The tick became an old-fashioned hair fringe of a man. Then, a 'smiley mouth' turned into the bottom part of juicy grapes. A 'zig zag' became my moutains. A 'spiral' is the pattern of a flower. A 'coma' became part of a sentence in a speech bubble. A 'hyphen' became a flat nose of an unhappy sun. The more I doodle, the more imagination poped up and it relaxed my mind. :)  And I recalled, how relax En could be when she draws. I must not give her a tense ambience at home. It takes away creativity.

Left - Our second assignment. Draw something with less than 20 dots. Then, exchanged it with another person. Join the dot of the drawing that we have exchanged with, and returned to the owner. When my drawing was returned, the line drawn was not the way I intended it to be.

The lesson learnt was 'Everyone look at things differently. Same goes to our children and us." This reminds me of my daily encounter with EnHui and how we view things in a different perspective and that's okay.

Right- The last assigment. Draw out the first image that came to your mind in 10 seconds. I thought of the rocket tent that See Ming had just passed to me. When the time is up, everyone passed the drawing to the person seated next to us and continue drawing the new piece we got. It went on till we received our drawing back.

My tent has become a house when it came back to me ! The black color scribbling was done by Hui. She sat on my lap and scribbled all the drawings while they were being circled around! :)

The lesson learnt was 'An original idea can change or evolve especially when you are working with other people, especially with kids'

Author in the making.... ? 28 August 2010

Saturday 10am
Galeri Petronas is showcasing Words+Pictures=Book, a contemporary picture book illustrations by Malaysian illustrators. It ends 3rd Oct. Free admission. Tel: 03 2051 7770
Today, Azalan Hussain, children's picture book author/illustrator hold an art workshop on creating your own illustrated book. It is free and we 're given a cool purple Tshirt with "Anak Seni" wording on it.

Left- Azalan Hussein 's sharing in Malay language. Blearrgghh EnHui couldn't grasp it. Well, it turned out that Hui has more interest in illustrating(Right) than En !

Left- Words+Pictures=Books exhibit section.  Right- A small reading corner at the exhibit, consists of 10 new children books which its illustrations are being showcased. Our favourites are 'The boy who loved durians', 'The garbage monster' and 'Raion's Hair'. You can purchase the complete set of 10 books at RM95 at the gallery.

During the workshop, En was overwhelmed with mixed emotions, which I don't understand why. A small child and yet with so much thought running through her mind. We left shortly after and browsed the gallery. Each and every piece of the displays are impressive and dazzling. En began to enjoy, and I apologize for bringing her into the workshop that is not fun. She said 'The workshop is great. And I don't want to be an author.'  Well, yeah.. I realised she has not been typing her stories for months and I have not been observant enough.

EnHui Sleepover 24 August 2010

Tuesday night.
En called 'ah yi' " Hello, are you coming home early tonight? "

After putting down the phone, she was packing, excitedly going to spend the night with her most favourite 'ah yi' a.k.a walking toy. And Hui followed suit, announcing, "Me too". I told Hui " Mommy won't be there! ". With a reassuringly voice, she replied "Yeah okay".

When I was driving home alone, uncomfortably, thinking if this is real.  " Am I free ? What I shall do? Enough time for a holiday? Where? Haircut (it has been a year or was it more) ? "  But it is already 7pm+. I better not let my guard down. I might need to pick Hui up, when she cries for me.

The whole night, my phone didn't ring ! I wasn't needed ! This is Hui's first sleepover. At age 3 !

'Ah yi' plays amazingly well with En. She is a toy ! A human toy. En has a special bond with her. Now, Hui 's too. I wont be able to play like 'ah yi', totally let her hair down and play ! Shame on me.

Gardening 26 August 2010

Thursday. Related - First day
After 2-3 days, our seeds are sprouting. And now, the problem is, we need a piece of land !

The cauliflower shoots pushed the soil up!

27/8/2010

Knitting 25 August 2010

Wednesday

En has been bugging me to get yarn and knitting needles. Last week, she was caught knitting with thread and two tiny sewing needles, trying to make something out of it.

Well.. I felt terribly bad and finally bought her to a knit and craft shop. There she was, trying to understand and followed what the aunty showed. It turned out to be more difficult than what she thought. She said ' so difficult !'

As a result,  I am doing it.. sheesh. Knitting is the last thing I wanna do.

Now, she is watching me, telling me to hold her hand and knit. And man, my fingers are in great pain !

Hungry Ghost Festival 25 August 2010

Wednesday
I told En about Hungry Ghost Festival. Last night, she left a glass of water outside. She said 'That's for great grandma'.  :)

The first child 24 August 2010

Tuesday

Ever since I have Hui, inevitably I find myself pushing En to act more grown up. I forget that she is only 6 and still very much a child. It is a very common mistake that we do, treating our children according to their birth order !

What scared me was hearing En using the exact same words on Hui, the ones I just used on her. She is displacing her anger, frustration, getting her own sense of power and self-respect back by doing so.

I am certainly not a great mom and have much more to learn for being one. I am sorry, En. Please forgive me.

Gardening 23 August 2010

Monday am.
We plant again, with the seeds we bought from Cameron Highland.
They chose tomato, cauliflower !!! and chilli ( for mom).

Grow vegetable Grow !

Unschooling Cameron Highland Road Trip 22 August 2010

Sunday am.
YL has made appointment with Mr Lee to visit his organic farm at Brinchang. We waited for him at his steamboat restaurant, which is diagonally opposite Rosa Passadena Hotel. From there, he led us to his  farm with a Kenari, and we drove our cars along.

Left- The entrance of his farm owned by 7 partners. Mr Lee has a pleasant personality and share his knowledge on organic farming generously.  We saw so many snails and En was safekeeping one, but it lost its way in my car !

Left- Self made compost which is steaming hot.

Left- Even the coat buttons look stunning at Cameron!  Right- Mr Chong showed us how the roots of a healthy vegetable look like.

Left- caterpillar munch, munch. Right- We ate  french beans and leafy greens raw from the farm. The yummy natural taste is simply indescribable.

Mr Lee of Cameron Organic Produce @ Brinchang. 019 779 6638. His organic vegetables can be found at Jaya Grocer and an organic shop at Ikano.

After the educational visit ended, we bid farewell to aunty Yu Ling and her family.  We went to the T-cafe@ Tanah Rata which serves delicious food, chicken pie, strawberry scones, vegetarian spaghetti, spicy fried rice, just to name a few. Unfortunately, it is closed on Sunday !.  Tel 605- 491 4018. T-cafe, which will be re named as Lord cafe, located above Marry Brown @Tanah Rata.

We decided to take Ringlet-Tapah route going home. Usually when I take this route, I would be so dizzy and sick. This time around, I took over the wheel and was all well. For the first time, I was able to enjoy the sights along the road. :)  Left- Dad bought some 'petai', EnHui loves 'petai' ! Right- En who is keen in Orang Asli story, got to see their homes along the journey.

We stopped at Lata Iskandar waterfall. After couple of minutes, I signalled them to leave. En was reluctant. She negotiated for a "2 piano class time" (an hour) to play at the waterfall. I said "1 piano class" (30 minutes). She said 'OK'.  Without much thought, both leapt from side to side, enjoying the cooling water. Well I thought, what is the hurry? Gradually, I relaxed and enjoyed the breeze. ;) 

Unschooling Cameron Highland Road Trip 21 August 2010

Saturday am.
I drove up to Mossy Forest, Brinchang Hill with my small 1000cc engine - car. The road to Brinchang Hill is much steeper and narrower than the road to Cameron from Tapah. At first, we were contemplating to drive on our own ,after reading some other blogs stating that it is more advisable to drive up with a 4x4 wheeler. When we were on the hill, we saw some other small cars too. :) So I guess we don't need a 4x4 wheeler to go up the steep hill.
The entrance is about 400m from Equatorial Hotel (from Tanah Rata direction), on the left side, which is also the same left turn as Sungei Palas Boh Tea Plantation. While driving through the tea plantation, look out for a sign to turn left to Brinchang Hill. No entrance fee to Mossy Forest.

Left- Entrance of the mossy forest. Right - From the entrance, if you drive slightly further, you will find the look-out tower among the tall communication towers on the left by the road side.

We were filled with awe by the beautiful sight of the mossy trees and its surrounding. The path is well paved with platform walkway but look out for some missing planks along the path. 

Left- Some black funghi. Right- Pitcher plants spotted up among the mossy trees

Left- another creepy crawler. Right - Dad was the zoo keeper & Hui was the panda while En announced "Who wants to feed the panda ?" . There are bamboo trees next to them.

Dad & Karen ventured beyond the platform walkway and came back with yucky-looking muddy footwear. The mossy  forest ground is damp and soft.

Then, we drove further to the look-out tower. There is another trail (Left) from here. The sign says 297km to Brinchang!! . Dad and EnHui, Han & Fai explored the initial part of the route.

Left- Wildflowers on the ground that we have not seen before. Right- leaf moth.


Time Tunnel Local Museum @Brinchang. 9am -6pm. Adult RM5 Children RM3.
All of us loves this museum. For the kids, there are tons of things to play with and for us, it rekindles the childhood memories, oohhh aahhh.

I can't believe I am so old now, the stuffs that I used before, are in the museum! Oh Man!

Redifusion - it used to be my mom's entertainment ! I have totally forgotten about this brown box till I see it again here.
While we were browsing, some oldies were being played, "Let It Be" drew my attention. Inevitably, I sat on the stool and .. When I find myself in time of trouble, Mother mary comes to me, speaking words of wisdom, LET IT BE...



Playground again !@ Tanah Rata. Our trip wont be complete without playground. I was so exhausted and so grateful to have dad over there, taking care of the kids while I took a cat nap in my beloved car. zzzzzz zzzzz