My Sharon

What I say today is something some of you might have experienced it. My elder daughter, Sharon, is 20 years old, doing her 3rd year in Electronic Engineering, in TAR KL.

It was just 20 years 6 months ago when I first heard her heartbeat during my 3rd month pregnancy check-up. I was near to tears when I heard her strong heartbeat as I was facing difficulty in conceiving her after my miscarriage. I made sure I ate right and got plenty of rest as well as sleep.

One morning on 12 May, I had a tummy ache. So off to the toilet I went but the pain stopped. This happened quite a number of times. Then my hubby said "It's the sign of the baby coming!" I did not panic. Packed a few things then headed for the hospital.

The pain got worse but I could stand it. Then a nurse came and asked me if I would like to take the injection to ease the pain. At the nick of time I remembered my friend once told me not to take any as it would affect me later on. So bravely I told the nurse,"No, thanks". Little would I know the pain would get so bad. Soon I was wheeled into the delivery room. At first it was freezing cold. A minute later I was sweating! When my Gynecologist came, she was fast and efficient in delivering my baby. Within minutes I was holding my baby that was so fragile, big eyes , red lips and skin so white. She reminded me of Snow White! With her in my arms, admiring her little features, did I realise the pain when my placenta was removed!!

Thinking back all these years how I prepared her for kindergarten, primary school, secondary school then to college. Lucky for me her first 2 years in college was in Penang. She did well and we were very proud of her.

Sadly, she had to further her Advance Diploma in KL. Of course, like every mother I cried to myself a lot. My little baby is leaving the nest. I always reminded myself that she is a grown woman now with a life of her own. But I did and still do remind her that no matter what, she is still my little baby and that in my eyes she is the little Snow White I love very much.

Leaders of Tomorrow

It was just yesterday when all my classmates, my childhood friends and I were wearing pigtails, pony tails, boy cut hair, playing high jump with our skipping rope or rubber bands put together.

And that yesterday was 33 years ago. Today we are mothers to our children, guiding them and always by their sides. Always trying to look for opportunities to get together. After all true friends are hard to find. Although we have grown out of shape, growing grey hairs, having backaches and suffering from short term memories as well as long sightedness, we still look at one another just as we were during school days in light blue uniforms.

But of course when we first met, there were " Oh!" (you have changed your look) , "Er...!" (Either could not remember the names or could not recall them in your memory banks), "Ah...!"(Finally managed to figure it out....her name). It was fun as it always ended with a big hug!!!!

I could still remember the day Pek Ean requested me to attend our CGL gathering! Guess who I saw there....Mrs Khaw, our Std 6 form teacher. She still looked the same except for some grey hair. Then I saw Mrs Barbosa. Of course neither teachers remembered me....sob! sob! But wait. I was standing in front of a lady...as usual could not recall her....at all. She was my kindergarten mate, classmate, school mate and yet I was so embarrased when I could not recognised her. So just being friendly, I gave her a big smile, pretending I knew who she was. Then I quickly "Pst! Pssst!" to Pek Ean., whispering to her (at a very low tone) "Help! Who is she????" Guess what Pek Ean said...."Catherine Pau lah". Alamak, I sudah tua, sudah nyanuk (absentminded).

Now with Facebook....it was worse for me...they invited me to be their friends! I would enter their pages and stared at their photos, trying to mix and match my wonderful friends. The best part was when I finally recognised each and every one of them, it made my day so special as so many of you have not forgotten about me after 33 years!

So you see we are not alone in this world. There are our friends who would always lend their shoulders or ears whenever we have problems. Every time when my husband and I had a fight, I would tune into my e-mails and felt much better after reading all the funnybones and queer stuff. And now with facebook, it was greater as many of you always invited me to your restaurant, aquarium and farm.

Yesterday we were kids and today we are the leaders to our children. Therefore, I bet all of us will prepare our children just the way we dreamt our lives would be ie. independent, responsible and hardworking. Best of luck to all your achievements!!

Little Angels of My Life

Yeap! I am surrounded by little angels but sometimes they can be little devils. Whenever I have any problems , believe it or not, they help me solve them by giving straight answers that come to their minds. They are innocent, unexploited group of children that would become tomorrow's great leaders. But will they be the same when they are on their way to adulthood? In this case, who do you think play the most important role in molding these children? Parents of course. Not that I have low expectations of the teachers in schools nowadays. But compare to the days when I was in school, my teachers back then were somehow more responsible and disciplined. That's why you never hear much about students playing truant, extortion, gangsterism, etc. If only the Education Dept could check on teachers in all schools to see how they carry out their duty. Then they will understand why now practically 98% of the students attend tuition classes. Some of these school teachers also offer tuition classes to their students.

You will be surprised to know that teachers of no knowledge of English are appointed to teach Science. Wrong pronunciations and the teachings are conducted in Malay with just two or three words in English are the major complaints by the students. Thus, these students can't understand their teachings. The best part was that these teachers could not even set their own questions for the term test. So they took the questions direct from a workbook which was easily accessible from any book shop. When the students answered the subjective questions, these teachers expected them to answer " bulat bulat" (exactly) like the answers given in the book. Although the answers given by the students were of the same principle but in their own words, they were marked incorrect because these teachers couldn't read, let alone understand them. That is why many students are skipping classes. To them, it is terribly boriiiing!!! Yawn! Yawn!