Thursday, May 03, 2012

3 May 2012

Kids go through stages and Farah is at the kids-say-the-darndest-thing phase.

Farah had chicken pox recently and TheFather tried to apply calamine lotion on her.

Father: Mari sini. Ayah sapukan calamine lotion.

Farah: *recoils with horror* Tanak!

Father: *tries to coax and cajole and bribe*

Finally, Farah brought the broom out and passed it to her father.

(This will get lost in translation. It's because of the confusion over the meaning of 'sapu' - this has 2 meanings in Malay - spread (nutella on bread/calamine lotion on body etc) or sweep (the floor). 

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Work Woes

This is filled with complaints. 

1. I don't blog much because:
a. I need at least 5 hours of sleep daily. 
b. Anything less than that, I'll need to use cosmetics to hide the monstrosity I see in the mirror. 
c. I hate gunk on my face so I need to sleep.

(I'm running out of excuses soon.)

2. I wonder how maid-less working moms who do not have parents/relatives to help out survive. Childcare centres and childcare leave cannot help you when your kids have chicken pox. I am so very, very grateful that my parents are helping us take care of Huda and Farah who were down with chicken pox these past four weeks. Without my parents' help, I would have quit. 

3. I find myself spending an inordinate amount of time working at home. After the kids go to bed, I will mark and prepare the next day's lessons. This takes place from 9pm to about midnight. I leave school at around 5pm daily. Despite this, I still cannot finish my work - especially the committee work which I label as important but not urgent. How like this? Is work incompatible with family life?

4. Tonight, I did not touch my work. In return, there is this terribly naggy voice inside my head telling me that I have work to do. I hate this. Why can't my time away from work be time for me? I think I have to look into getting that photocopying lady job.


May 2012

Another late update. Lots to say but not much time to say it.

Summary:

1. Farah getting more feisty. 

2. Huda needs to learn to fend for herself. 

3. Farah should stop bullying her sister. 

4. Life is never quiet. 

Will write more. Soon. I hope.