Stories

1. Yesterday, somehow, the kids got interested in the story of their birth. And it got me thinking about this blog.

2. This afternoon, I took them to my school. They have not been to their own school for more than a week. We went to Bandung and after that I happily let them ponteng. It's December, after all. Their job was to collect the printouts from the printer but changes to the security system meant that I had to go to the printer myself to activate the printer. So, instead, the girls - after about 10 minutes of quiet work - spent the rest of the 1 hour 50 minutes we were there tearing the place down. Thankfully, I was the only one in the staff room.

3. Bandung shopping is best. It's perfect for makcik-makcik like me. I got myself 5 long-sleeved top. Should have gotten more. What's significant about the tops is not the quantity (I often end up with more at gmarket) but the colours. Finally, my wardrobe has more than just three colours. (It used to contain just black, grey and maroon.)

4. Farah said this just now:

F: Mak, you said you are going to take me to see  a doctor?
Me: Huh? For what?
F: My voice. It's so loud.

I might have told her that I wanted the doctor to remove her vocal chords. She really has a major problem speaking softly. I keep on telling her, "Telinga mak sakit tau?" But, aching ears or not, she's as loud as ever.

5. My attempt at speaking Malay is finished. I'm speaking more English now because I got to combat the bad English that the children are using.

Mid-November 2012

Completely unimaginative title, I know.

1. H is about to start primary school now and I hope I've made the right decision putting her in this school. The only viable alternative is to put her in the school I'm teaching in and the reason why she's not here is because I was planning to get pregnant and did get pregnant at the time when registration was in session and so I thought I was going to leave forever. But now that the pregnancy was a short-lived one, it seems like I'll be with the school til forever (or at least, until I leave the service). I'm trying not to fret about the decision. I must convince myself that there is a reason behind everything and so I must be at peace with this. I MUST. (Saying that slightly louder to quell that noise at the back of my head that goes "Transfer. Transfer. Transfer.")

2.We just had the P1 Orientation and the P said that there are no exams in P1 to ease the pupils into school life and to let them enjoy learning. We also had the final Parent-Teachers' Conference with H's teacher the same afternoon during which she said that Huda can read, write and do her Math well. Alhamdulillah. The teacher said that we had nothing to worry about. No. I think not. A parent's job involves a whole lot of worrying and it's somewhat unnatural not to worry. Huda is, thankfully, like me, (and confirmed by the teacher to which we pretended to be somewhat concerned but we really are not) not at all blessed in the performance arts. So, with that, she can't join any of the time-consuming things like dance ensembles (have you seen how much time they spend preparing for SYF?). That leaves her with academic pursuits like reading, writing and arithmetic. Hur hur hur. All nerdy pursuits given stamps of approval by both parents.

3. I am thoroughly upset about the student care that we had picked for her. Initially it was owned and managed by AMP but AMP decided to sell it off to focus on the school-based student care which presumably are more profitable than under-the-block type of student care centres. With this, I am in doubt about my own working future. I know for a fact that I'll be working for the entire of 2013. But, I am really not too keen on using this student care service for more than a year so one good alternative is to transfer H over to my school by 2014, go on half load so that I can finish all my work by dismissal time and then go home with her. See? This is the "Transfer. Transfer. Transfer.'" noise that's going on in my head since today's P1 Orientation.

4. ME & Kindle
I bought a Kindle last month and have been obsessed about it since. I've downloaded USD130 worth of books in it so far. Some - I'll never read. Like, J.K. Rowling's Casual Vacancy. I don't read to get depressed and I couldn't get past the first page. But, because the book costs quite a bit of money, I won't delete it from my Kindle. Serves me right for buying based on the author's reputation alone. I thoroughly regretted it after I read reviews and synopsis of the book.

One good read is One Day by David Nicholls. It was good until I hit Chapter 18 and that's when I used up one entire box of tissue paper and caused some kind of flooding in Woodlands. I don't read to get depressed and I hated, hated, hated David Nicholls for a good 2 days before I (and another box of tissue paper) went back to the book anyway and continued reading.

 Now, I thought I would love to go back to a physical book but Kindle has spoiled it for me. I used to think of myself as a book snob (not in that way) but in a way that physical book is superior to any form of technology. I've always felt that way when I read from the iPad. But, Kindle has changed that for me. Have you seen a Kindle in action? It looks just like a real book and for the old fogeys like me - it DOES NOT STRAIN your eyes!

And then, there's the dictionary function. I was aware of this function when I saw my friend's husband using a Kindle and he showed me the dictionary function. You just have to touch the word whose meaning you want to know for 1-2 seconds and the dictionary will pop up with the meaning of the word there. To go back to the book, you just press one button and there you are, back to your story. It's just too easy!

And of course, nothing can beat the convenience of having all the books you want in one device. I am in between at least 5 books now. I go back and forth between books depending on what I feel like reading. It's such joy. Just make sure you are the only one using the Kindle cos if you are sharing the Kindle with someone and the other person is reading the same book you are, the Kindle will open up the book to the last page you read. That's a bit annoying so I'm grateful that I'm the sole user of Kindle at home.

H sometimes uses my Kindle to read Fantastic Mr Fox but that's the only book she reads from my Kindle. I downloaded some picture books for her (Harold's Purple Crayon etc) but picture books are best viewed in the physical form. Besides, the Kindle is a black/grey and white/off-white device so children's books and Kindle don't go well together. Unless you get the Kindle Fire. Which is not really as great because it is not a dedicated reading device. If you get a Kindle to read, then you should just get the e-ink readers. This will prevent you from doing something else instead of reading.

Back to children and Kindle. No, I won't recommend it for young readers. Some still need to point at the words while reading and if you get the Kindle Touch or Paperwhite, the device will go to the next page. So, no go.

Let me wax more lyrical about the Kindle, okay? The battery life - it lasts! And lasts! Energy is consumed only when you turn the page so can you imagine how long the battery lasts? If you take this with you on a one-week holiday, you don't have to worry about charging it! I had to charge it quite frequently in the first few days because I was used to charging my toys the moment I see a less-than-full battery bar. And also because I was toggling between a lot of books in the first few days of ownership. But now that I have overcome the early euphoria, I cannot even remember the last time I charged the Kindle.

5. On the topic of reading. There's F's reading. H started off reading on a diet of Baby Can Read. It works as long as that is the only moving images your child sees. No other TV shows or videos. With F, I started her off on Baby Can Read and Baby Signing Times. Baby Signing Times were a whole lot more exciting than Baby Can Read so very quickly she developed a preference for Signing Times. Naturally, I killed off both. Now that she's almost 4 and in my warped world, at a rather late age to start reading, I'm starting with sight words for her. And I spell out the words. So she knows how to spell the/is/you/my etc and can recognise these words but there's not enough recognition on her part for the words to form a coherent meaning. Lesson learnt: Do not show any other videos other than Baby Can Read. In any case, F is read to often enough and I hope she picks up some words there.

6. F is also not using the Iqra' books to learn how to read the Quran. She got started on Iqra but I switched to the Tilawati series. There are only Tilawati Books 1 & 2. So far, F is halfway through Book 1. It's challenging teaching her, just as it was with H. But, I've learnt my lesson here. Stop before the child wants to stop and do not make it miserable for both mother and child. So, I go at her pace. Thankfully (and for this, I thank God each time this happens), she's self-motivated. She'll take her book, place it in front of me saying "Nak ngaji." Then, I must stop everything I'm doing and teach her. Each page takes about 5-10 minutes to cover. And then, that's it. I don't try to fore her to do more than she wants to do lest she gets sick of it (and me).

It's 12.18am now. I'm going to sleep. Good night, all.

The Kids

Huda is going to start school for real in less than 2 months while Farah will be moving on to N2 come December this year. How my kids have grown!

What have they been up to?

In no particular order, here are the milestones they met and the grouses I have. 

1. Farah can speak quite well for a 3 year old. She speaks more English than Malay, unfortunately. And unfortunately too, a lot of Singlish creeps into her language. I have no issues with Singlish if they can codeswitch efffectively but not if that is all they can speak. Her speech is clear and she can use complex sentences in her speech. Hooray!

2. Both kids are eating well. Huda - too well. Huda's eating habits are a bit strange. She eats A LOT. For dinner (which is at 5.30pm on schooldays because she comes home absolutely famished), she has at least 2 full servings of rice. We are not talking about 2 tablespoons of rice per serving. We are talking one entire rice bowl per serving (and more sometimes). She will eat that and ask for seconds. And thirds sometimes. And occassionally she wants even more and I will discourage her. 

The surprising thing is, despite this huge amount that she's eating, she's still terribly underweight - at the 3rd percentile - so the checkup last week showed. At 1.06m, her desired weight should be at least 21kg but she's only 16kg. But, I no longer worry about her weight. I'm happy to see her eating well. The only thing that perplexes me and anyone who sees the amount she eats is, where does it all go to?

3. Huda has problems with her teeth. The front upper teeth have some decay in there. So, she's been going to see a dentist (the one at the polyclinic) about it. She has to start using adult toothpaste which she abhors. If I don't supervise her nightly toothbrushing ritual, the toothpaste will end up all over the kitchen sink. (Toothbrushing takes place at the kitchen sink cos it's so much bigger than the bathroom.)

4. Farah can be so adorable. She'll make the funniest of faces when she wakes up in the morning, all on purpose. 

5. But she can also be so contrary. Being a kid, she has very little respect for hygiene. So she has no qualms picking up ice cream sticks, sweet wrappers or just about anything off the ground. I'll get so mad. The madder I get, the more she will do exactly what she's not supposed to do. In fact, when it comes to anything that makes me mad, she will do exactly what she's told not to do. I am not going to try reverse psychology on her just yet. Instead, I will keep calm, tell her succinctly what she's not supposed to do and move away. I am hoping for that (the keeping calm part) to work. 

6. She is also completely off diapers now. Her nighttime diapers went away after a few nights of dry diapers. One night, I truly forgot to put on her diapers for her before she slept and the next morning came without any incidents. So I tried again, always making sure she goes to the bathroom before she sleeps. And what do you know? We're saving a bundle without diapers now!

7. Farah picks things up quickly. She gets irritated by her sister when her sister goes "pink colour". She'll tell the sister, "Teacher Inah says pink is a colour. You don't have to say colour, right Mak? You just say 'pink'."

Each time she tries to teach her sister something, it's always preceded with a 'Teacher Inah says..'. That's her teacher in N1 who deserves a whole lot of credit for Farah's language development. 

And then, there's her loyar buruk-ness. How do you translate that to English? Once her sister snapped at her, "Padan muka." Serves her right, the sister said. Her reply? "Don't call me padan muka! My name is not padan muka."

8. Now, while Huda goes for her wushu on Sundays, Farah goes for her madrasah at the same time. Kids Alive's madrasah programme is only for kids in K1 and above so until Farah is old enough to join the programme, she'll be going for this other madrasah conducted by Little Muslim Readers. While both kids are away, I intend to start jogging. The keyword here is intend. 

9. My father and sis-in-law bought the special Quran Waqaf from Pergas and Masjid Al-Raudhah and Huda has been using that for her nightly Quran reading. No more ipad cos it was getting pretty annoying with the screen moving everywhere when we accidentally touched it or when I'm jabbing at the letters in frustration. She's now starting from the back where all the chapters are shorter. She spends up to two weeks per chapter (slow progress is mostly due to my laziness in insisting on a more regular schedule) which also includes memorising. At one point in time when I was pregnant, I was just too tired to teach and left everything to the Ustazah who comes in twice a week to teach her. Now that I'm in the pink of health, I have gone back to daily reading (no discounts on weekends either). I set myself a target of 6 times a week which means I can only slack a bit once a week. 

10. I've left Huda to read on her own these days but realised just now that I must get her to read aloud to me to check on her pronunciation. I saw her buried in a book when I went to pick her up from school this afternoon. I asked her what she read. She said, "Danger on the High Seas." Only that danger was pronounced da-nger, like the nger in singer.

11. She doesn't want to nap in the afternoon on weekends so I told her that she could stay up when Farah is napping as long as she is quiet and allows me to enjoy my Kindle Paperwhite (this one, I may just dedicate one whole entry for it). One afternoon, after Farah slept, she sat beside me, took out her English-Malay picture dictionary and started reading it for the entire 2 hours that Farah napped. Huda loves her picture non-fictions. She loves the Disney's Words books - Words that Tell You about Things, Words that Do Things and Words that Name Things. (Those books are tough to find and I definitely did not pay Grolier $3000+ to get those books! I'm glad she loves them!)

12. Farah was reading her Iqra'  book. ah, bah, bah she went, recognising the basic sounds the letter makes when a stroke is placed above the letter. Suddenly she went, "Ba ba ba balik kampung. Oh oh oh balik kampung..." breaking out into a Sudirman song.

Okay. That is all for now. I am going to spend some time with my Paperwhite now before turning in.

Not Multiplying Anymore

Before I started my Multiply account, I had one account at blogger.

No one knew of its existence except TheHusband and 1 or 2 close friends. I penned my thoughts down but of course as with all online activities, I was careful not to reveal too much information.

I liked Multiply because it was a simple all-in-one package. 

But, now that its death as a blogging site is looming, I have transferred all my blog contents to my old page, onedayinnovember.blogspot.com

You might find the 2005-2009 entries a bit confusing because I was writing on both blogger and multiply during that time. If you find the entry darker, then that must have been an original blogger entry. But then again, who has the time to plough through all those years of writing. 

I really hope blogger is not going to bite the dust too. I think someday, I have to copy all these in a format which the kids can access easily. After all, most of the entries here are about them and wouldn't they love reading about themselves.

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1. I'm impressed that exporting the blog exported almost all the comments made. I thought all the comments would be gone but surprisingly, most are intact.

2. I don't like how much space there is between paragraphs. Must find a way to make it smaller.

August 2012

So here are some updates:

1. Aftermath

The miscarriage is long over and alhamdulillah, I'm feeling so much better now, both physically and emotionally. Will have another appointment with my gynae later and things should be okay.

And now, back to regular programming - the kids.

2. Huda's Mengaji

I have pulled Huda back. She was midway through Al-Baqarah but I stopped it (long ayat, reading getting progressively slower etc). Now we are reading from the last surah of the Quran. Much easier there. Shorter ayat and I can also make her memorise every surah that we read. Unfortunately, my 4 times a week schedule was firther cut down when I was pregnant and after the mc. So, now we are starting again and progress is sloooooooow.

But, at least, I have sought the help of my sis-in-law who managed to get an ustazah ngaji for her. The nice lady comes twice a week and fixes her tajwid and pronunciation.

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Wrote the above in my Multiply account but did not finish it - as always. And now that I'm forced to migrate to another platform, I just exported all my entries - the published ones, drafts and protected ones. Now I have to go through each one slowly and see if I ought to delete any. I do have plenty of drafts sitting around, not published so it looks like it's culling time now.

Week 9

Thursday, 26 July 2012

I felt some tightening in my womb, a bit like the Braxton-Hicks contractions I felt in the later parts of my previous pregnancy. But I didn't think much of it.

Friday, 27 July 2012

I felt a couple more of those false contractions. Since my appointment with my gynae was scheduled for the next day, I didn't see the need to rush to KK. In fact, after the episode was over, I forgot about it.

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Huda and I woke up at 4am to watch the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. Huda has been looking forward to the Oympics for so long. We then had our sahur and watched the rest of the Opening Ceremony. After that we got ready - me heading to KK Hospital for my appointment while my husband sent Huda for her madrasah.

I reached the hospital and everything looked so familiar. I headed for the clinic where I was gonna see the gynae. As it was my first appointment, I was asked a lot of questions at the counter and a lot of forms had to be filled. That I have 2 kids and one miscarriage. That the kids were all born at the same hospital and that the first one was a premie. That I breastfed each of the 2 kids for 2 years each. That I would breastfeed this 3rd child for a similar duration. And after all the questions were answered and forms were filled and more forms were signed, I was given a gift pack comprising newborn diapers and other newborn paraphernalia.

After the routine tests - height, weight, blood pressure, urine tests - I waited for the doctor to call me. There weren't many people at the waiting area. Perhaps 9am appointments on Saturday mornings were not the most popular slots.

Barely finishing the first article in the first magazine that I took, my name was called. I entered the doctor's office and she confirmed my details and history. 2 C-sections and one miscarriage. Then, she told me to climb onto the bed for the scan. 

She applied some gel on my tummy and started running the scanning thing all over. Immediately, I noticed something amiss. 

During my first pregnancy with Huda, I was sent to the hospital at Week 8 with a terrible case of dehydration. Despite the non-stop vomiting, the moment the doctor scanned my womb, the first thing I noticed was the strong heartbeat. There it was, pulsing madly to tell me, "Mak! Look! I'm okay!"

This time, I could clearly see the outline of the baby but where was that pulsing heartbeat?

The doctor told me that she had to do a vaginal scan since the normal scan didn't show the heartbeat. At the back of my mind, I knew things weren't right. This is Week 9. The heartbeat should be easily seen by now!

The heartbeat didn't show up during the vaginal scan either. 

The doctor then told me that she'll get me to do my scan at the second floor scanning centre where "the machines are bigger and stronger."

While waiting outside her room for someone to take me there, I started tearing. No heartbeat.

I sent a few texts to TheHusband but forbade him from calling me because I would not be able to stop my tears from pouring if I were to start talking. 

I went to the scanning place and thankfully, again, a relatively empty waiting area. Tears fell but I tried to stem the flow.

It was time for me to have my scan. I did not see anything pulsating. I saw a clear outline of a baby who is dated at Week 8 Day 5. That's when the baby stopped growing. No FH, I saw the sonographer typing. No Foetal Heartbeat. I asked, no heartbeat? No, the sonographer replied.

I could no longer control the flow of my tears. They just came pouring out. The sonographer passed me a wad of tissue paper. Texted TheHusband again who would join me as soon as he picked Huda up from the madrasah. Told him to inform my parents because I could not talk.

After the scan, I returned to the gynae's waiting room. There were a lot more people by then. Happy pregnant women. I hate to cry when the people around me were so cheerful. I must have cut quite a sad figure, all alone, frantically wiping away my tears.

When I saw my gynae again, I just started crying non-stop. She was very patient with me, explaining my options. In between my sobs, I managed to ask her if the heartbeat would ever appear at a later date. Knowing then that the baby was dead and that there would be no hope at all, I opted for immediate 'evacuation of the womb'. 

She asked me repeatedly if I wanted to wait for my husband to come before I made my decision but my heart was set. I didn't see why I should prolong my agony and make a return trip to KK for the procedure. Besides, TheHusband would respect whatever decision I made.

I was taken to another room where I would have some blood taken and be given something to open up the cervix. This would allow for the baby to be sucked out from the womb. 

A familiar nurse, Nurse Christine, who had been around since the time I was pregnant with Huda, escorted me to the counter to make payment and escorted me to the admission counter to settle my admission to the hospital. At the first counter, I took out the gift pack I received earlier and whispered about not wanting it. Nurse Christine tactfully got someone to take the gift pack away. 

During the admission procedure, I started shivering uncontrollably, a side effect of the medication to open up the cervix. Between my heaving sobs and the shivering, I was a wreck.

A porter came to take me to my room. TheHusband and kids would only see me there as they were still on the way to the hospital. In the lift, a newborn baby was being wheeled to another level. The baby cried. My eyes were completely blurred by tears.

In between all the waiting and while my eyes were less blurry, I whatsapped my siblings and my RO in school. My P immediately sent a kind text and my VP called and even came to visit. (How can I ever think of leaving the school like this?)

TheHusband and Kids came shortly after. No kids ever want to see their parents ill. Mine too. Both Huda and Farah didn't quite know how to react. They just stood at the side of the bed and the script my husband had prepared for them went unsaid. 

A couple of minutes later, the Operating Theatre was ready. My family escorted me to the OT. Once there, we said our goodbyes and Farah reminded me to recite my prayers.

This was my third visit to an OT in my entire life. For this, I was given a general anaesthesia. Only pregnancies of 14 weeks and above are given the local anaesthesia. Just as well. I really don't fancy a jab on the spine. For what I thought was a simple procedure, there were quite a few people in there. Maybe they were just passing through but I passed out much too soon.

When I woke up, it was 1 and half hours later. The procedure was done. My baby was gone.

#3: Week 8

25 July 2012

According to various online due date calculators, my due date is either 28 February or 2 March. (I don't know why they skip 1 March)

Like I've said in the earlier entry, at this point, I'm feeling quite miserable. I can't help feeling this way. I am normally positive but having morning sickness all day long is pretty sickening. It sucks to wake up twice a night just to vomit. *wails*

Tomorrow I should be entering Week 9. It took forever to get there! But I don't see the end to the morning sickness in Week 9. Sigh.

I'm going for my gynae's appointment on Saturday. Sticking to my same gynae and same hospital. 

-

My morning sickness started to get really bad last Friday, just one day after entering Week 8. I was waiting for a cab after school and vomited all over the grass patch. The stuff that comes out is thankfully not food. Just plenty of fluid. Foamy saliva and bile. But, it does feel good for about 30 minutes after a vomiting episode. Unfortunately, it also turns my legs into jelly. 

-

I was on medical leave on Monday and Tuesday this week. This was my first time taking MC this year. I felt so terrible. So weak. The doctor said that I was dehydrated. I cant take that much water. I can't even take water. I need to sweeten everything before it can get past my throat. I broke my fast on Monday but Tuesday I felt a bit better about continuing my fast. I doubt I can fast much this Ramadhan. 

I don't know how I'm going to survive the rest of Ramadhan and Syawal. I don't think I'll do much visiting or have many guests over this Hari Raya. I'll just have my 2 basic groups of guests: my parents and siblings and TheHusband's dad and siblings. After that, I shall vegetate at home. If my children want to enjoy having guests, they can go to my parents' place. There's no shortage of guests there. 

-

Farah and Huda have both been so kind to me. Farah will ask me, "Mak, mak sakit?" (Mak, are you sick?") Then she'll kiss my tummy to make me feel better. (So sweet, I can cry.)

Huda has been touching my tummy at every opportunity and she keeps on talking to the baby. Occasionally, she'll put her ears on my tummy to listen to the baby. So cute lor.

Huda insists that the child in the womb is a boy while Farah wants a girl. Huda's rationale is she already has a sister so it's now time for her to have a brother. Farah only wants a girl because she says boys are naughty. (She should take a good look at herself.) 

For me, it doesn't matter. If it's a girl, I chope the name Nuha and if it's a boy, I was thinking of the name Aqil. Incidentally, I asked Huda what should we name the younger sibling and she immediately said, Muhammad Aqil. Of course, all these names have not been approved by TheHusband so we shall see. Unfortunately, my brother already named his daughter Nuha so actually I should think of other names. But, I really like that name! 

They kids knew about my pregnancy after I tested positive for it. The next day, the entire childcare centre knew about it and one of my friends (whose daughter is Huda's best friend) texted me to congratulate me. The girl even told her mother that they must now have a younger sibling as they are best friends and therefore, they should have the same number of siblings. 

-

The weather now is horrid. It's hot hot hot and it's making me sick just looking out of the window! 

-

Two Lines

One day in June, we were in the kitchen and Farah patted my round tummy.

Huda: Mak, ada apa kat dalam? (Mak, what's inside?)

Me: Lemak (Fats)

Farah: (Completely ignoring what I said)  Babyyyyyyyyyyyy! Baby! Baby! Baby!

She then went on to kiss my tummy, claiming that she was kissing the baby inside.

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Then I found myself thinking of bread and buns and other yeasty matters as repulsive. They made me unbearably bloated and uncomfortable.

Later on, there was an unexplainable backache.

I developed a craving for all things beef. I just had to have the spaghetti + beef steak at Block 26, Teck Whye Lane. 

When my period didn't come, I knew it. 

But, I still took a week to take the test. I suppose because I already knew.

And it was positive. 

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25 July 2012

Now, I'm in Week 8. I'm uncomfortable, vomiting foamy saliva, bile and feeling generally miserable. Why must morning sickness be so horrid? 

I will try to chart my pregnancy diligently, similar to what I did for my pregnancy with Farah. But, now, all I want is for this episode to be over and into a vomit-free second trimester.

Japan (Part 2/3 - Disney Resort)

[20 July 2013 - All pictures from Multiply have disappeared! Booohoooohoooo! So, until I develop the technical know-how, this will be a pictureless entry.]

Everyone should visit Disneysea & Disneyland. They are possibly the best man-made production ever!

(As always, wrote the first few lines eons ago and now, must finish writing before I forget.)

Tips when going to Disney Resort Tokyo. (I'm going to put a number of pictures here so just wait for them to load, okay? Most pictures will be irrelevant to the text. :D

1. Go on weekdays.

The carparks were empty when we got there on a Wednesday morning. But by Friday afternoon, there were cars everywhere!

 

Disney Resort Line. Cool stuff.

See the empty parking lots?

2. Avoid Japan school holidays.

Unless you love crowds.

We saw lots of little girls dressed up in princessy outfits. LOTS. 

3. Go when the opening hours are extended to 10pm.

We were fortunate that the opening hours were extended to 10pm for the entire month of June. We managed to go back to our hotel to make the kids nap for 2 hours in the middle of the day so that we can go back to the park and stay til closing time.

Had we gone in March, the parks might have closed at 6pm and that will be a mighty shame. 

Disneysea. So nice, right?

3. Bring your own food because halal food is difficult to find.

We managed to make contact with a VERY VERY nice person from the Tokyo Disney resort whom we met at the Natas fair. After asking him a whole string of questions and then some, we asked about the ease of finding (vegetarian + seafood - alcohol) food at the Disney Resort. A couple of emails later, he managed to list down a few restaurants in both Disneysea and Disneyland where we can get food that meets our requirements. 

At Disneysea, we can eat the tempura set without the miso soup at Sakura Restaurant.

At Disneyland, we can have the tempura set at Hokusei Restaurant or the vegetarian set from the Eastside cafe.

Once we got to the restaurant, we told them that we had allergies to pork, beef, chicken, mirin and sake and the restaurant staff would take care of the rest. At Hokusei restaurant, we were seated and waiting for our meals but we were told that the oil used to fry our tempura was also used to fry the pork cutlets. So, off we went to Eastside cafe. The vegetarian set was surprisingly good!

Fortunately, we brought had our instant rice and some instant Brahim stuff too so we didn't go hungry during the Disney leg of the journey. Instant noodles came in handy too!

Our nice contact person from Disney Resort also managed to arrange a  (vegetarian + seafood - alcohol) breakfast for us too. We took it on the first day but decided to skip it on the second day because of:

i. time - When you have breakfast at the restaurant, you have to spend time eating there and you lose precious time especially if you book a hotel that gives you a you-can-enter-the-park-15-minutes-earlier pass. 

ii. price - It was possibly the most expensive breakfast we've ever had in our lives. It cost us about SGD120 for 2 adults and Huda. Farah ate for free. So we had it once for the experience and decided that a SGD120 breakfast experience is best had once in a lifetime. 

Expensive breakfast. But really appreciated the effort made by the restaurant staff to ensure that the food met our requirements.

Vegetarian food at Eastside Cafe. Possibly the nicest vegetarian spaghetti I've ever eaten.

TheHusband's favourite character - Donald Duck

4. Avoid breakfast at the restaurant

As above. What you should do instead is, pack your food. Wake the kids up at 8.15am. Get them ready.  Leave the hotel at 8.30am. Go to your desired park. Enter at 8.45am and see all the others just die of envy. Take pictures with Mickey Mouse without the queue. (He is the most popular character. Queues to take pics with him are terribly long!) Watch people run into the parks at 9am.

If you don't have enough food, there are 1-2 shops that sell pastries. Kalau tak was was, you can buy from these shops.

5. You need to spend at least 4 days there. 

We went to Disneysea on the first day and Disneyland on the second day. We didn't have enough of both. Despite what many people say about Disneysea - that it is more suited for bigger children - we disagree. Our family happen to adore Disneysea a whole lot more than Disneyland. 

Perhaps it's because we visited Disneysea first, so we were completely awed by the magic of it all. By the time we went to Disneyland on the second day, some of that awe had been chipped away?

Why 4 days? 2 days at Disneyland and 2 days at Disneysea. The parades are amazing. The rides are just as spectacular. Heck, even the view is something to go "Wow!" about. 

We had to skip some parts of Disneyland because we simply did not have the time. But thankfully we were there during the non-peak period so Huda the thrill-seeker managed to ride the roller-coaster (the kiddy one, of course) 3 times each at both Disneysea and Disneyland. 

6. You will end up buying those mouse ears (and an assortment of souvenirs)

I told the kids early on that I will not buy those hairbands with mouse ears for them. They are ridiculous, I told the kids. You won't ever wear them when we get back home, I added. They'll become white elephants, I further emphasised my point. Then, I turned out to be the one who insisted on buying them those mouse ears. 

If you see a product you like at a particular shop, don't think the way I thought - "I can get them later. Don't want to lug all those Monsters Inc lunchboxes all over Disneyland. I can buy them at the big souvenir shop near the entrance when I'm leaving the park." You thought wrong. Once you leave that particular land, you will never see those cute Monsters Inc lunchboxes anymore. The souvenir shop at the entrance only sells Mickey and Minnie products. Princess characters/Monsters Inc/Lilo and Stitch etc can only be found in their specific lands. So, don't hesitate. Just buy.

And that will include the popcorn buckets. You can buy cute fat buckets for your popcorn at both Disneysea and Disneyland. If you see a bucket that you like at Disneysea, BUY IT. I didn't, thinking that I was going to Disneyland the next day so I might as well buy it there. Big mistake. The designs are different and for the month of June, the designs at Disneysea were a lot nicer than the ones at Disneyland. Grrrr. 

It got rather chilly at Disneysea once night fell. But as a kiasu mom, I was well-prepared. I had jackets, gloves and scarves for the girls but nothing for myself. Had to sit on my hands to keep them warm.

7. Get a stroller

If you didn't bring your own stroller from home, rent one at the entrance. Absolutely essential. You can also see the stroller parkers at work. They are amazing. (All Disney cast members are amazing. Digress a bit more - All staff working there are called cast members. Even the cleaners. Because they are part of the magical formula of Disneyworld. Their level of service is unparalleled! You can ask just about anybody for help. The cast member who was sweeping the area would put away his broom and dustpan and answer your queries as best as they could.)  

Back to stroller parkers - Their job is to make sure that all strollers parked near the rides are orderly. If say, someone who is done with the rides takes away his stroller that's parked between a couple of strollers, the stroller parker will swiftly move in to ensure that there are no gaps and that all strollers are parked in the most orderly fashion. 

Of course, this being Japan, people don't steal the valuables that you leave in the stroller. So, you just bring your wallet with you and you can leave everything else in your stroller - even that much-coveted popcorn bucket that is no longer being sold at the resorts.

Sleeping Beauty with the Sleep-Refusers

8. Watch all the parades and the shows

MUST MUST MUST! This is why you have to spend 2 days at each park. There is no way you can watch all the parades and shows and still soak in the sights and sounds and take the rides AND queue up to take pictures with the characters. If you go during the non-peak periods, you will have a chance to be right in front with absolutely nobody blocking your view. I love it!

9. Stay at the Disney hotels

You gotta get the full Disney experience. We stayed at one of the Disney hotels and we appreciated the convenience of being able to return to the hotel to get the kids to nap, among other things. 

Kid-size room slippers + stool for kids. So attentive to detail! 

10. Lock your jaded self up in the hotel safe

If you are going to go there and act like everything is a big conspiracy theory ("Why are the cast members so happy? Are they in some kind of cult?") or if you think that you are way too cool for this Disney stuff, you might as well not pay the Disney resort a visit. Somehow both TheHusband and I were captivated and dazzled by our entire Disney experience that we talk about going again (right after we file for bankruptcy for this trip) and spending at least one week at the Disney resort.

One is too big. The other one is too small.You girls are just not meant to live in a castle. 

After I cast this spell on you, you socks-and-sandals-wearing-woman, you will learn the error of your ways and learn to dress up the way princesses ought to. (Needless to say, the fairy godmother forgot to charge her magic wand so the spell didn't quite work.)

I think I've covered all the essential points. So I'm going to send this off for publishing!

PS: I doubt that an Osaka segment will ever see the light of day seeing that it took far too long for this one to appear. So, just in case it doesn't, here are some tips which I was saving for the Osaka bit:

1. Get Takuhaibin service

Takuhaibin is bag delivery service. We took the train everywhere and it will be ridiculous to lug everything on the train especially when we have to change trains frequently. (We had 2 average-size luggage, one duffel bag, a stroller and one box containing food. So, from Tokyo, we sent some of our stuff to Osaka and bring only one suitcase with us to Disneyland. (Recap: We went Tokyo -> Disneyland -> Osaka.)

The bag delivery service is quite reasonable and very dependable. For an average size luggage, it costs about SGD20 to get it delivered to your hotel. You can ask your hotel lobby about this service and email the receiving hotel to inform them that your luggage is coming earlier. 

2. Take the bullet train

It is an amazing ride! The interior of the train itself is drool-worthy. The speed is astounding although TheHusband couldn't feel it. 

3. Watch what the staff at the train station do when the trains pull up at the platform.

They bow to the trains!

4. Take the Rapid train from the Osaka city centre to the airport. 

Then, when the train reaches the airport, hang around at the platform til the train is good to go. See the seats turn around. 

Japan for the Muslim Family with Kids (Part 1/3 - Tokyo)

Edited on 29 March 2014: Finally! I added pictures! Dunno how long it'll take me to add pics to the Disneyland entry, though. Do wait patiently. :D 

Alhamdulillah.

We're almost reaching the end of our Japan holiday and it has been an uneventful one. That is good. Very good.

Getting there. I think we took SIA (or some other full-service flight 
judging by that screen at the back of the seat)

I also promised a few friends that I'll write about my trip. If they wish to come to Japan, I hope that this will be helpful to them. Just like last year, we spent an inordinate amount of time finding out about food. we don't want to depend on just plain bread for survival during our 2 weeks in Tokyo/Disneyland/Osaka. For those with no dietary restrictions, a trip to Japan will not require as much planning as food is not an issue. 

FOOD

It's quite easy getting halal food in Tokyo. South Asian restaurants are aplenty. But just because it sells curry, it doesn't make it halal. We stayed near the Shinjuku area and here are the places where we ate:

1. Taz Mahal

Alight at Shinjuku Station

The building is behind Odakyu shopping centre, 

Buffet meal. Unlimited servings of rice and curry (normally about 3-4 types) and a fixed number of plain naan for 1000¥. This is the standard price for buffet meals at Indian restaurants.

Entrance to Taz Mahal

2. Merah Putih Cafe

Station: Shin-Okubo

Address: Shinjuku-ku Hyaku Nin Cho 2 – 10 – 9 Shin Okubo Initial House 304

Go out of the station, cross the road. Turn left. The restaurant is on the 4th floor. The building is opposite a 100yen shop.

Website: http://merahputihcafe.wordpress.com/

Tips: Go during lunchtime when the Nasi Padang set goes for 650¥

Entrance to the shop. Just a small restaurant on the 4th floor.

The Menu

The girl and her food

  3. Indian restaurant 

Station: Okubo

Go out from the North exit, cross the road, turn left. The shop is some distance before the intersection.

Tips: The owners claim that everything is halal but we had our doubts so we stuck to rice with shrimp and vegetable curry. 

(Basically, that's how we do things when it comes to food in Japan. Unless we are very sure that it's halal, we stuck to seafood.)

I don't have any pictures of this restaurant. This is the place which is nearest to our apartment, Hundred Stay. The shrimp curry is NICE! 

4.  Kebab & Indian Restaurant (Cannot remember the names)

Location: Ameyoko - which is somewhat like Bugis street, only much better

Station: Ueno

We ate at two places here last year. One was a kebab place which has the halal sign on the board near the stall and the other one was an Indian restaurant. 

At this juncture, you're gonna think, Indian restaurant again? I have kids! What will my kids eat? Don't worry. The Indian curry has been tweaked to suit Japanese taste buds so they are perfectly kid-friendly. However, Farah is quite fussy about food so she survived on our home-cooked dinner (see #7 below) and lots and lots of milk.

There are 2 kebab stalls here. One does not have the halal sign while the other one has. The 2 stalls are near each other so if it's not the one in the background here, it has to be the other one a few metres away.

5. Gyumon

And for some yakiniku -

Restaurant: Gyumon

Address: 3-14-5 Shibuya, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo

Station: Shibuya

Go out from the South exit. Climb the overhead bridge and go diagonally opposite where there's Shibuya Police Station. Go straight along Meiji Street. Walk walk walk. Just before you hit the Nami-Kibahsi Intersection, turn left. It's a small restaurant.

Here, we ate Japanese beef. 

It was divine. 

Website: http://www.mhalalc.jp/img/MalaysiaHalal13.pdf

Initially I was quite skeptical about halal Japanese beef. How is that even possible? But our good neighbours, the Malaysians, have made it possible.

Entrance to the restaurant

All the tables on the ground floor were occupied so we were led to the second floor. 

We had our own room and we sat on the floor to eat! So quaint! 

 Yummy yum yum!

We grilled the beef on the charcoal stove. Three different plates of beef slices were given, each from a different part of the cow. One of the parts (can't remember which one because I was high on beef) was amazingly tender. It melts in your mouth! I wish I had a bigger stomach. (It's big enough as it is but not big enough for this!)

By the way - not quite related - according to lonelyplanet, Japanese Kobe cows are not fed on beer and given daily massage. That is just a myth. Lonelyplanet researches did not see a single drunk cow in their visits to Kobe. 

6. We took a day trip to Mount Fuji on one of the days. (Mount Fuji's direct distance from Shinjuku is at least 95km, based on googlemap's calculations. So, that info will come in handy for those concerned about solat jamak/qasar.)

Lunch was provided during the trip and we asked for a vegetarian + seafood - alcohol meal for lunch. We booked the tour with Yokoso Japan and they went out of the way explaining what goes inside every part of the meal when it was served to us. Such excellent service! (Then again, this is Japan. If there's no service, it's not Japan.)

http://www.yokoso-japan.jp/en/index.htm

One of those rare times when the girls sat with TheAyah instead of piling on top of me

7. Self-cooked meals

For dinner, we have cranky kids who did not nap. We don't want to face the world with two whiny kids who test our patience to the max. So we cooked our dinners. We stay in a service apartment with a fully-equipped kitchenette. We brought a bottle of sabun sertu and used it to cleanse all the pots, pans, crockeries and cutleries before using the kitchenette. 

We brought a lot of instant food. Brahim's, Knorr's instant soup (the Asian kind of clear soup; not angmoh style of creamy soup because my Asian kids only consume Asian soups), Nutella, salt, pepper. We forgot kunyit and bought a small packet of it from a shop near Tsukiji fish market for 200¥. 

Dinner is often the same. Knorr's instant soup with fresh vegetables bought from the supermarket. Salmon (sooooooooooooo fresh!) pan-fried in salt and pepper. And when our pepper ran out, salt and the 200¥ turmeric powder. Eggs. Oh gosh! The eggs are beautiful! They have perfect white shells and the yolk is so bouncy! Salmon and eggs from the supermarket, of course. Occasionally, we'll have one of Brahim's instant something - Rendang, Ayam Masak Merah, Sambal Ikan Bilis etc. Served with rice. We didn't bring rice from Singapore so we bought Japanese rice from the supermarket. Cooking the rice is a time-consuming affair especially if your kitchenette only has that one stove top for you to use. 

Then we found out about instant rice. The Japanese are such clever people. They think of everything! We got to know about these packs of rice when I talked to an Indonesian lady who has a sundry store at Ameyoko. This nice lady, Fauziah Al-Attas, even brought us to a nearby shop to show us where we can buy the rice and also some jars of salted salmon that we can use in times of emergency. If you are in the area and need some Indomie instant noodles, you can get it from her shop. 

Fauziah Al-Attas

This is the sundry store owned by Fauziah Al-Attas. This woman is so nice; she brought us to a nearby store to show us the instant rice that we could use.

That's what ready-to-eat rice looks like. She also recommends this jar of (preserved?) salmon that was a tad bit salty but good enough for an instant meal.

You can either heat this up in a microwave oven or if you are in a hotel room without a microwave oven, by soaking this in hot water. Not boiling. Because the rice is already cooked. This can be found in many shops, sold singly or in packs of 3s, 4s or 5s. 

8. Supermarket Buys

We also had Japanese instant noodles. I came across this website: http://junjungbuih.multiply.com/

This belongs to an Indonesian lady who is living in Japan. She diligently checks the ingredients of all the foodstuffs that she wants to buy and if things like emulsifiers appear in the list, she calls up the company and asks what kind of emulsifiers are used. So, based on her good work, I bought lots of stuff from the supermarket. And of course, chocolates. 

Unfortunately, this website no longer exists thanks to multiply's demise. I wish I had copied the entire blog post or something. Such a pity. It was super super super informative!

PLACES WE VISITED

1. Akihabara (TheHusband's thing)

All techies should pay Akihabara a visit. For me, Akihabara does not make my heart flutter at all so, TheHusband went alone while I tended to sick children in the hotel room. 

Fortunately, the first leg of our journey was not Disneyland. I wouldn't be too pleased if they fell ill at Disneyland. In Tokyo, they took turns falling ill. First Farah. Then Huda. So, we couldn't do as much as we would like to. Thankfully, our apartment was near the train station and it was easy getting around so we took turns going out while the kids rested in the room. 

Getting around is easy as long as you are near a train station. You may have to change trains a couple of times. If you have a stroller, it's best to avoid peak periods.

2. Shinjuku shopping area

There are plenty of things to buy for those with deep pockets. I was looking for raincoats for the kids and me but most of the raincoats I saw in this area was above 10,000¥. That's about $160. Urh, not for my pockets. But there were nice things to look at. Like, there was a rack of pretty pink suits that cost 99,000¥ each. They were placed openly just like how Metro in Singapore would display some random tops. 

In the shopping areas, there will always be at least one building that will cause severe palpitations in TheHusband's heart - buildings like Bic Camera where there are floors and floors and floors of TheHusband's toys. What I like most about these buildings is that there is one floor dedicated to children's toys. There are also lots of hands-on activities for the children. So, while TheHusband salivates over the latest gadgets, I take the kids to the toy section.

 I love these train sets. Thankfully, I don't have space at home for all these things. 

Shiok sendiri girl crooning away

3. Ueno Park - There happened to be some kind of beer-sponsored ice festival going on at that time and Huda got to sled down a pile of fake snow. There were blocks of ice, ice sculptures, ice kachang (minus the kachang) and lots of food.

Throughout the trip, Farah refused to take photos. She would either close her eyes or cover them with her hands.

We gave Ueno zoo a miss. It was a Sunday and it was so crowded. We should have gone on a weekday.

In Ueno Park, there is a shrine that we visited. I'm intrigued by all the stone structures that were built in the 1500s. There are all these big stone lanterns that lined the path leading to the shrine. 

4. Ameyoko (near Ueno)

This place reminds me of Bugis Street. There are lots of things to see and buy here. Lots of seafood, shoes, bags, clothes, fruit etc. You can imagine it, can't you? There's a whole lot of stuff sold there. If you want to get bars and bars of chocolate as souvenirs, you should get it from here too. Cheaper than the supermarkets. 

5. Meiji Shrine/Akihabara

We didn't go to the shrine this year. We went there last year. The path to the shrine from the Akihabara station is lovely. With sick kids, we gave this a miss.

6. Mount Fuji 

This is not Nadirah. She forced me (TheHusband) to write this despite my vehement protests.

We had to get out of our hotel pretty early to get to Shinjuku Washington Hotel, which was where the day tour was scheduled to depart. We finally arrived at the 5th station of Mt Fuji after spending about 1-2 hours travelling on the bus.

But alas, it was drizzling and visibility was poor, so we did not see the top of Mt Fuji itself from the 5th station. We spent 1 hour there (in the souvenir shop and surrounding shrine) and from there visited other places like Hakone, took a cable car and a cruise boat. 

We also were brought to a shop where wasabi ice cream was sold but we did not buy it since it was cold.

Cold cold cold

 Orh. Cold because it was 2305m above sea level. 

We bought black eggs. 5 for 500¥. The eggs were dipped in the boiling hot sulphuric water on the volcanic mountain. Due to the chemical reaction or whatever, the shell turned black. The egg tastes of regular boiled eggs. But it was nice to tuck into those warm eggs in the cold.

Huda writing a postcard to her grandparents

In the cable car

 The cruise ship to Hakone. We were awed!

7. Tokyo Camii mosque

TheHusband has retired from writing so it's back to my primary-school style of constipated writing.

TheHusband did Friday prayers here. So did we. There were about 20 females in the congregation. Some Malaysian tourists, some of South Asian descent and also a number of Japanese ladies. 

Here's specific instructions on getting there: http://www.tokyocamii.org/messages/cform/inqtype:0/lang:en/

Those two heads in white and pink are Huda and Farah.

8. Tsukiji fish market

We reached Tsukiji market at 9am. The market activities were winding down. But there was still much to see. Unfortunately, we did not get to see any whole tuna. But we saw the heads and they were huge.

I suppose this would be the size of a regular tuna sold there:

(Is that even a tuna in the first place?)

When visiting the Tsukiji fish market, it's important to realise that tourists are in the way of the workers so it's best not to bring strollers, stay by the sides and be aware of the surrounding.

We saw giant octopus arms, various shellfish and a whole lot of unidentifiable sea creatures. We also saw people expertly filleting fish! I just stood there, transfixed at their skills.

  

This nifty little vehicle was used to transport stuff all over the market. Remember to give way to them.

There is a lot of sushi place at the fish market. We ate at one and we had rice with sashimi. The seafood is so fresh!

There is a train station just outside the fish market. That was how we got there in the first place. On the way back, we intended to take the train from the station to Ginza but the stationmaster said that the change of trains would be 'complicated' so he suggested that we go to the next train station a few hundred metres away which doesn't require a change of trains. We were glad he made the suggestion because we came across a dry market. I bought the most delicious anchovies there. 

And I also came across shops selling pretty tempura paper. After frying your tempura, you should place it on the paper which will absorb all the oils. Tempura paper sold in Daiso are plain and come in A5 size. But the ones here are so pretty!

I regretted not buying them. :(

A box of cherries for 8000 yen. That's about $130.

9. Ginza/Sony Showroom

We ended up walking to the Ginza area because it was just one station away from the other train station. We wanted to visit the Sony Showroom because according to various Internet postings, it's an interesting place to take kids to. Well, not really for my kids. We watched part of Spiderman 3 there in cinematic comfort. But the gadgets are more suited for older kids.

OTHER PLACES WE COULD HAVE VISITED

1. Sky Tree

This was open just a few days before our arrival but we did not get to go.

2. Toto Building

In Japan, Toto is the brand-name in toilet technology. We were impressed by Toto toilets and I considered visiting their showroom, as suggested by my trusty lonelyplanet guidebook. But, with sick kids, we had to cancel things off our itinerary.

3. Harajuku on Sunday

It would have been interesting to be able to go here on a Sunday to look at all the cosplay madness.

4. Imperial Palace East Garden

It's closed on Mondays and Fridays.

5. Odaiba

The kids would have enjoyed this, I'm sure. 

6. Ghibli Museum

The kids do not know who Ghibli is so this might be lost on them.

LANGUAGE

We got by on basic greetings in Japanese, like

• Good morning/Good afternoon/Good evening
• Thank you
• You're welcome
• Sorry
• Excuse me

We used English for everything else. Japanese can understand English but if that fails, gesturing and pointing at maps help. 

PEOPLE

Japanese are polite and helpful. Some will go out of their way to help you. If you show them your map and point at the place you intend to go, they will whip out their phone and use it to navigate you.

You also see how considerate and respectful they are. Just look at the toilets and you know that this is another civilisation altogether. Nowhere else in the world do you get consistently clean toilets everywhere you go. 

----

Finally. That's the end of Part 1. Part 2 will be about the Disney Resort.