Pembantu baru

Kita baru dapat pembantu baru, last weekend balik Seremban menghantar pembantu ibu yang kita pinjam 3 bulan. Rasa lega pun ada cos' pembantu yang lama ni susah nak bentuk. tegur lebih-lebih muka dia jadi kelat. Tak tegur pun susah, tapi pasal dia ni kes "pinjam" so tak boleh la nak cerewet sangat. Janji budak-budak OK, rumah berabuk sikit pejam jelah mata sebelah.

Kalau nak citer pasal kes-kes pembantu rumah ni, sampai malam pun tak habis. Sejak zaman tok nun lagi problem ada pembantu rumah lebih kurang sama aje. Tapi tak boleh dinafikan satu dalam seribu ada yang OK sangat-sangat. Pengalaman sendiri pun macam tu. Sejak ada anak pertama 9 tahun yang lepas, kita dah ada pembantu rumah nak masuk 10 orang, termasuk la 2-3 orang kes sementara (in between maid). Dalam 10 orang yang kita dapat, 2 orang betul-betul OK, seorang tu complete contract nya. Yang lain, ada aje ceritanya. Member ofis dok gelar kita "employer from hell" Kononnya terlampau garang. Walhasilnya pembantu yang awal-awalnya kita layan sangat lah baik. Nak amik hati konon, kesian depa jauh dari family...hidup susah. So ingatkan kalau lah kita jaga hati diorang lebih berterima kasih. At least seronok duduk/bekerja dengan kita. Tapi statisknya, yang pertama baru kije 4 bulan dah nak balik..katanya ayah dia nazak. Dah tu? Takkan nak larang ye tak? Yang rugi kita la jugak cos ejen tak nak layan, taknak beri ganti rugi walaupun kita dah belanja beribu-ribu nak dapat kan pembantu. Yang ke2 & ke 3 kes yang sama. Masuk 7-10 bulan dah takde mood nak kijer. Dah mula tengok kijer nak taknak, budak jatuh depan pun amik masa nak kejar..sometime buat tak tahu! Bila ditegur, sedar-sedar dah lari. Yang dilegalizekan permit pun ada, ingat dia berterima kasih, end up...dapat paspot dia berambus cos pacar offer kerja tempat lain. Ada jugak yang masuk tahun ke2, baru renew permit, 2 minggu selepas tu dia lari...Adusss...duit lagi, kena bayar penalty kat imigresen. Kena bayar balik ejen untuk dapat yang baru. Dalam hati dok pikir...kalaulah I can di without them...alangkah baiknya. Pilihan ada tapi pasti ada masalah-masalah lain pulak. Nursery, Babysitter...tak semudah itu.

Kekadang bila compare notes dengan kengkawan yang lain, ada kes yang lagi teruk. Syukur la sebelum ni, takde kes anak-anak dipukul tampar. Sekarang yang dua orang tu dah besar, kuranglah rasa sangsi. Apa-apa hal, diorang dah boleh mengadu. 2 hari yang lepas kita terserempak seorang pembantu jiran menyuap makan anak majikannya di tepi longkang belakang rumah. Lalu kita pun tegur la secara baik...kenapa diberi makan di sini, bukankah tempat ni kotor. Dan kita tanya majikan OK ke beri anak dia makan nasi di kawasan ini. Jawab si pembantu ni dengan nada yang agak keras (marah kot kita dok tegur dia) "Iyelah kalau majikannya tahu, pastilah tak OK". Dengan perasaan pelik kita tanya lagi "Dah tahu tak OK kenapa dibuat?" Selamba aje muka dia, pedulik apa dia dengan kita cos kita bukan bos dia ye tak? Geram rasanya...pengotor sungguh! Tak amanah..cos jaga anak orang ikut sukati dia. Kesimpulannya mereka nie depan kita maybe peluk-peluk anak kita. But the moment kita keluar rumah..tuhan saja yang tahu. Not all genuine & honest with their job. Some may, but not most!

So bermula lah episod baru kita dengan pembantu baru ni. Mintak-mintak dia OK. So far tak banyak mulut. Apa yang disuruh itu yang di buat. Mungkin terlalu awal nak buat penilaian. Kita dah go through the routine, dah beritahu mana yang patut. Sekarang masa yang menentukan...dan kena doa banyak-banyak yang kita dapat pembantu yang baik dan amanah menjaga anak-anak bila kita keluar bekerja.

Quiet time

I cherish my quiet time. The fact that my life all this while is far from being quiet. I have a loud family, I love loud friends...it represent honesty and history you have with them. And when my siblings plus my parents are at our dinner table we talked about anything & everything...loudly. From far bystander would probably think we were all arguing or having some serious debate!!
I am myself considered to be loud (I hope in a good way). And I love it!

When I came for a job interview to the Cyberjaya office, the 2 interviewers asked me "Do I have any questions?"...I simply ask "Why is the office here is too quiet?"...jokingly ofcourse! I'm not quiet sure whether they get my joke, they'd probably think I was being rude. But they hired me anyway. :)

As years passed, I realized my personality took a bit of a twist...oh I'm still loud though but, I hold back some thoughts. Gone those time that sometimes my words gets ahead from my head. I quickly recap my thoughts first and carefully rephrase them and use the proper tones to ensure that it reflects well. My loudness were at time perceived as being impatient & intrusive. Too quick to assume a judgement, too swift to pass a remark and sometime too early to bystand a defence. I guess this is what you call maturity, it comes with self realisation of years that passed you by and the learnings you get from mistakes you have made; intentionally or not.

Do you realized that matured people tend to listen more before giving an opinion? They tend to nod more; not a gesture of agreement but clearly to acknowldege some sort of understanding, or even perhaps a gesture that they are listening.

I hope in years, I grow wiser and more matured in making my life decisions. I still love the loudeness, to me...it brings out the life in me; but once in a while when you have quiet time for yourself (such as now) to do some thinking & self reflections; should be good too. It feed your soul in embracing maturity.

Beautiful Oslo

I had the privilege to be in Oslo during summer this year, took a bit of pictures and managed to cover few attractions in between being there for work. Summer season was the best of time to be there, the local colleagues would tell me. Simply because the day is longer, so you'd be amazed to see that it was still bright outside eventhough the time was 9pm. The first few days I was there the Norwegian summer was not what I expected. It was cold and windy; reminded me UK in autumn. I was told that it rained a day before but a week before I came, the sun was out and it was sunny and bright. OK, so I figured eventually that summer time in Oslo can be pretty unique because it can be sunny today but if it rain it will be as cold as it can be. But then again, when I was there mid June, it was not quite summer yet...more of a transition period of turning summer.

What I love the most about the place was the people. Norwegian really love the nature. They are bunch of outdoor people. They spend quality time with the family doing the outdoor activities. And the weather won't stop them either. If it's winter, snow and cold they would go out and ski. If it's summer or spring they hike and jog. Fantastic!! This is the kind of lifestyle I myself would embrace. I love the fact that you spend quality time doing outdoor activities rather than being stuck in the house most of the time. It's has always been my dream to take my kids for a good camping one day!

The Statue park

Oslo itself is a unique town. The town is a mix of modern art & modern architecture but still retain the natural landscape. Some of the interesting places I have seen in Oslo was:
The Nobel Peace Center (That's right!!)
The Statute Park (Vigelandsparken)

The National Museum

The Opera (a very unique modern building)

Holmenkollen (ski jump tower)

The City Hall
The Palace (only from the outside)
Telenor HQ office (in Fornebu)
...and I discovered one Halal Kebab shop there!

 

the palace

discovered this in the middle of the town

On top of the Opera building

the breakfast

11pm! Believe it or not!

It was a heck of 2 weeks stay and I truly love being there.

Weekend of adventure

I took my Friday off last week to join Haris for an event that he has to attend at Bukit Merah. I was so thrilled that ibu & ayah wanted to join since Haris was driving the Starex. With 3 kids at the back, grandparents and us...it was such a wild & fun ride. The ride was loud as you know with 3 excited kids (macam cuti sekolah la pulak!)..and ibu trying to manage all them. Ayah was so caught up with "Avatar" movie that I played in the car, he hardly said a word except asking me bit & pieces about the movie. We pushed off to Perak in the afternoon and soon enough reached to Bukit Merah slightly by 4pm. We stayed at The Bukit Merah service apartment there. As mentioned in the Trip Advisor, the place wasn't really that good. The pool was OK though, but the rest was pretty much so-so. The so called 2 rooms apartment was not much, Haris wasn't quite happy about it but at least the toilet is clean, they have hot water & air-cond. But you probably wouldn't stay more than 2 days...

Still plenty of time, the kids, ayah & me rushed to the pool with ibu relaxing nearby. Haris dozed quietly...since he had only had few hours of sleep before. That night we went to the nearby lake area. Initially there weren't many people until the FIFA match between Brazil vs Netherlands, we started to see some crowd. Ibu & I decided to take the kids back since it was really late. The men stayed to watch the football game.

We went to the animal park the next day. It was quite a walk but worth the trip. The place was clean and presentable. The kids was having so much fun, and for me to have ibu ayah around was a complete bonus! The place has a great potential, the tropical forest, the natural lake was fantastic but the whole commercialized "tourist" area was not up to the standard. I wish the staff are more professional, I wish the services are more customer friendly, I wish they would have local rate to attract 'working class' people across the nation and I wish they would have senior citizen services and special needed visitors (disabled ones). It is such a waste to have a world class wonderful natural attractions but the services provided are so 2nd class level.

Jalan-jalan cari makan

Our lunch was even more exciting because Haris took us to Sungai 2 in Penang for Mee Udang. We had that and fried crab along with fresh coconut juice. None of us has ever been there, so for all the 1st timers like us, it was an adventurous trip for lunch. And I must say the food was awsome! Later on we headed to the Penang island. Planning to stay in Penang for a night. Even though Haris's colleague had booked us rooms in Berjaya hotel, Haris insisted we tried our luck for a walk in room at a better located Hotel. We drove to some few high rated hotels, unfortunately we couldn't even get any room there. Some are full most are too pricy..at the end resuming to drive to the Berjaya Hotel, Haris took a wrong turn end up we were driving back to the Penang Bridge. 6pm then...at the end spontaneously we decided to head back. Ibu & I was a bit dissappointed because we were talking about having nice Nasi Kandar for dinner. Haris tried to book a last minute room in Lumut Swiss Garden but couldn't even secure any room that evening as well!

10pm, we reached Subang Jaya. Decided to get the nasi Kandar at Pelita SS15. We tapau, headed home and had a nice family dinner at the Sunway Kayangan Hotel; our home instead. I bet all of us slept snoring that night! :)

Obsesiku (rough version) by Aqasha

Obsesiku (rough version) by Aqasha

always admired his talent. But I wish he streamline his music type...I personally like if he goes bit of R&B and Pop. His voice compliment it well...dangdut like? naaaah!

Obsession or motivation?

Last weekend I measured my weight and realized that I gain back 2kg. It took me agonizing months just to sheds that off! Prior to my business trip, I have not been working out as frequent as I should. But I still watch what I eat...enough to make sure I don't overstuffed myself. And for some ironic reason after coming back from 2 weeks of business trip, the weight never seems to change as it was 6 months ago! This is so depressing!

Clearly I am so over the post pregnancy state because Hakeem is 2 now, and I can't use that as an excuse to be "over weight". I was at my worst after my delivery. Ofcourse I didn't feel so bad about it because I was pregnant right? But then I realized its not being fat that bothers me, I don't consider my self to be obsesive in getting slim (though I am inspired to gain back my figure)...I just don't want to be "out of proportion". Buying clothes can be a depressing thing. Most t-shirts that looks good on the mannequin looked awful on me. So I have to settle to baggier clother, mostly men's t-shirt which do not compliment me at all.

My objective is simple, I want to feel good about myself. In doing so I wanted to be healthy and fit. I am already at my late 30s. If I can't look good at this age, what else am I? Looking good is a subjective matter, I can't possible have the super model body, not fancy a flat ab (cos I don't remember ever had one before)...but I want to be in shape, I want to be able to shop for any darn clothes that I want. I want to be able to run up the stairs without having to stop and catch my breath. So I hit the gym again 2 days in a row (took an easy cardio on day 1since it has been a month)...by the 3rd day I took a slow walk with Hakeem in the afternoon. I literally told myself that I will not consume any sugar in my drinks! AT ALL!! By the 4th day, I think (and I hope its not just water retention) that 2kg are gone! IS THIS FOR REAL??? Perhaps because I was seriously monitoring my calorie intake (no more that 1400 calorie per day) + the exercise + the meal portion. The difference is now I started to create a daily diary of my calorin intake. I need to put the data out of my mind and jotted in down...literally. Previously, I was not so into this. I control my portion, had good lunch, skip rice for dinner...however still taking my coffee & tea with sugar.

This time, I am in for real. I need to see results. I can't just walking around thinking that this is impossible. I can't give my age as an excuses. I can't stop motivating myself just because I am tired. I don't need drastic results. I just need to make sure, I eat well, exercise more and stay positive. I cannot fall back to the same weight as I was 6 months ago...the pounds has to go, the fat has to go!! Slowly, gradually but surely...only 1pound a week. Thats all I need!

This post I dedicate to myself as a reminder of what I want now! It is a virtual documentation of my oath. It should validate me and bind me till the end of the year.

my lunch today: miso soup (86 calorie)

Jauh di mata dekat di hati...

I have been away from my family for 11days now. By the time I reach home it will be a complete 12 days. Currently I am in my hotel room in Oslo, 12midnight...alone and cold. It's 12c degrees outside. I just had a cup of latte a while ago with a friend, slightly tired but not sleepy. Just finished packing my suitcase, making sure I leave out the clothes that I want to wear the next day. My flight is 2pm tomorrow, luckily the bus to airport is just a walk away.

The last time I was on a business trip was about a year ago, and it was only couple of days or so. This is the longest time I have been away from my kids & Haris. I tried not to think too much about it, just sink into my work. Each morning I would called ibu and had a quick chat with her and the kids (the kids are with ibu & ayah for the week of school holiday). Then followed by a call to Haris. Time difference is 6 hours behind from Malaysia, so by the time I called home it's the morning time for me and its in the afternoon there. Haris wasn't so keen for me to take more than a week away. He would prefer I spend as less away from the kids. I would prefer that too but this trip is different, I need to be here whether I like it or not.

The good thing behind all this, I realized that how much Haris misses me. He text me each morning to tell me how he feels and wish I'd come home soon. It boost my spirit sky high knowing that I am needed and appreciated. The last time he'd gone mellow was 11 years ago when he had to join his family to UK for 2 weeks. He was attending his sister's graduation followed by a week vacation to Egypt. I could still remember how agonizing it was for not able to see him. He cut his trip short and came home 4 days earlier. That wonderful time away was the turning point for both of us. We decided to get married. We realized that we couldn't possibly be away again.

This time, I can sense how lost he felt. At 1st he was upset with me for taking away the routine. He blame me ofcourse for causing his loneliness...with no kids around and me not being there. But what's important I discovered here that we never felt so lost then we ever did. We needed each other even more and we truly appreciate what we have. I am glad that something good come out from this. It is painful to be away from your loved ones. Oslo is a beautiful town, more so during summer. But I can't seem to enjoy it cos I can't share it with Haris & the kids. Each time I saw something nice and beautiful, my heart wish that I could experience the feelings with them. I wish they are here with me.

I am coming home soon, less than 24 hours I will be on a plane heading to Bangkok and then back home in KL. Will reach 12.15pm at KLIA 24th June 2010. With Haris waiting for me at the entrance gate to take me home to the kids.