Welcome Home ZAZA

Today’s Entry is dedicated to a fellow blogger

 and a dear friend of mine, "ZAZA".

She is a medical doctor by profession, a very nice, soft spoken individual who's great at baking (just love her mini tarts) whom I had the pleasure of befriending while I was residing in Hong Kong. She’ll be returning to Malaysia for good today after nearly 2 years in Hong Kong, as she took unpaid leave to accompany her hubby who’s doing his postgraduate studies in dentistry at HKU.

Welcome home Zaza though I’m not actually in Malaysia to welcome you back. I’m sure you’re gonna miss Hong Kong like I did as it surely hold lots of fond memories for us all. "Selamat Pulang Ke Malaysia". Hopefully we get to meet up soon as we're much nearer to one another now. :D

She's Always On My Mind

Couldn’t sleep again last night. Been having problems sleeping lately. I try my best to tire myself during the day so I’ll be so exhausted that I’ll just knock off to bed early for a good night‘s sleep. I don’t even nap in the afternoon. And yet, I just couldn’t get myself to doze off.

The problem with not being able to sleep is that your mind begins its flashbacks to the past. For me, the flashbacks will always take me back to the day I was at the hospital last October, the day I gave birth to my little baby girl and later to the day I lost her. The ordeal that I went through at the hospital; the pain, the fear, the anguish and as always the self blame. What did I do wrong?

It’s already been more than 3 months since then and yet I cannot seem to forget. I still look at Sara’s picture that I took with my mobile phone, every night before I go to bed.

I am moving on with my life but at times I feel like I’m not. When does the pain of losing her go away?

Shafiq and his first BFF.

A conversation I had with Shafiq recently.

Shafiq: Mummy, how much money does Daddy have?

Me: Why?

Shafiq: I want to go somewhere.

Me: Where do you want to go?

Shafiq: New Zealand.

Upon hearing New Zealand, I immediately knew why he wanted to go there, but I still asked him why anyway.

Me: Why New Zealand?

Shafiq: I want to see Jessica. I miss her. She is my best friend in the whole wide world.

Just as I thought, Shafiq misses Jessica. (Jessie for short). She was Shafiq's closest friend when we were residing in Hong Kong. They go to the same school and happen to be in the same class.On top of that, they were neighbours. Jessie and her family lives in Tower 7 while we were living in Tower 6. Shafiq and I used to hang out with Jessie and her Mom all the time. Whenever Jessie's Mom has errands to run, she'll drop Jessie at our place. The same goes for me. Whenever I have errands to run, I'll drop Shafiq off at Jessie's place.

Jessie and her family has since moved back to New Zealand and we eventually moved to Singapore. I still keep in touch with Jessie's Mom from time to time via facebook or email. Though Shafiq has new friends now, he'll always tell me how much he misses Jessie.

I was going through some of our old photos when were living in Hong Kong and came across so many pictures of Shafiq and Jessie.

Shafiq and Jessie on their first trip together to HK Disneyland.

Shafiq with Jessie and Aunty Jamie (Jessie's Mom)

Shafiq and Jessie trying to find their way in Disneyland.

Shafiq and Jessie attempting to sail Jessie's Dad's boat.

Always hugging each other.

Shafiq and Jessie trying out their scooters.

Finding their way on yet another trip to Disneyland.

Shafiq as Prince Charming & Jessie as Cinderella (if I'm not mistaken)

on Character Book Day.

Another "huggy-huggy" pic of them.

Shafiq & Jessie getting ready to go somewhere.

Shafiq and Jessie in Chinese costumes

for their school's Chinese New Year Celebrations.

Shafiq, Jessie and their friend Arpit during Sports Day.

Shafiq and Jessie dancing together at a party.
Oppsss, sorry, not Jessie. :D

It's Juanna, his friend from the Phillipines.

Shafiq and Jessie in their Lantau International School uniform.

Shafiq and Jessie "lepakking" in front of the TV.

(Can't see the TV in the picture though. :D)

Shafiq with his parents and Jessie with her parents.

A "Kodak Moment" with Donald & Daisy

on one of their many, many trips to Disneyland.

Looking back at all those photos, I now understand why Shafiq misses her. They spent so much time together. Hope they will always have fond memories of each other.

What to do??? (Part 2)

Still on the subject about my maid. We caught her using the house phone  recently without asking permission.

Since she started working for us, I’ve already told her that whenever she wants to call home, to let me know & I’ll dial the number for her using my mobile phone as my mobile package allows me to call a few countries (Indonesia included) at local rates.

I was already asleep at 11pm a few weeks back when I suddenly received a call on my mobile. I looked at my mobile & saw that it was my home number calling my mobile phone. Imagine my suprise.

I got out of my bedroom to look for the house phone (it’s a cordless) and couldn’t seem to find it. In my mind, I suspect that the house phone could be with the maid. As I couldn’t find it & I’ve searched everywhere, I decided to go back to sleep.

As I was about to doze off, I heard the sound of a door opening. I got out of bed again to see what was going on and guess what, the house phone (the cordless) was on the dining table & it wasn’t there earlier when I was looking for it a few minutes ago. My suspicions were confirmed. It has to be the work of the maid. I took the cordless & checked the last redialed number & came across a phone number that I was not familiar with. When I tried calling that number, it was unreachable. At this point in time, my Hubby was pretty mad to be awaken by all the commotion. He wanted to call the maid and ask her about what she’s been up to but I told Hubby to take up the matter with her the following morning as it was already past midnight.

The next morning, my Hubby gave her a piece of his mind, basically telling her how we’ve not been happy with her work, with the way she’s been behaving lately, etc. After I came back from sending my Hubby to the office, she came to me, crying and apologizing for the way she’s been lately.

My Hubby and I have pretty much decided that we were going to let her go by the end of the month. We are spending about SGD615 monthly on her. (SGD340-her salary, another SGD275 on government levy, which is payable monthly) But me , being the softie, after the maid came crying to me and asking for forgiveness, I don’t have the heart to tell her that we no longer require her services. Maybe we should give her another chance.

My 24 years old maid - "Patimah"

We’ve noticed some changes in her lately. Good changes. She’s back to her old ways, the way she was when she first started working for us. Still can’t let go of the TV though, but at least she’s not glued to the TV as much as before.

I guess the lesson I learnt from the recent ordeal with our maid, is that you can never be too nice to them. You must be able to draw a line when it’s necessary. My biggest mistake was to treat the maid as part of the family. Doing that, the maid really thought she was part of the family and forgot that she was after all a paid employee in our household.

To Zaza and Nita, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts on the maid issue in my previous entry.

What to do???

Hubby usually wakes up around 5.45 in the morning for his morning cycle. I’m usually up by 6 something but my maid gets up at 7 in the morning. Howlah???

We took her in about 3 months ago, about a week before I gave birth to my Late Daughter Sara. The first few weeks, we found her to be a tremendous help. She wakes up early, breakfast is always ready on the table. Always smiling and ever ready to do anything. She treated my son Shafiq like he was a King, attending to his every beck & call. She hardly watches TV and whenever we come home, she’s always by the door to help carry our stuff.

But the last few weeks, she like totally changed. Wakes up late, later than me & Hubby. In fact, a few weekends ago, when we were supposed to drive back to KL at 7 in the morning, she was still asleep at 6.45am & I had to wake her up when I have already informed her the night before about the KL trip. She doesn’t prepare breakfast anymore, so Hubby & I end up having breakfast outside. Whenever Shafiq calls her for help, she will only respond to him 10 to 15 minutes later. She threw out a very special birthday present from a dear friend of mine, telling me she thought it was “sampah”. She doesn’t inform me when kitchen/food supply finishes. My closet is a mess, she just keeps stuffing the clean clothes without arranging it properly.She watches TV day & night and whenever the family goes to bed at night, she’s still watching TV.

What am I supposed to do? I’m not the type who scolds/mistreat the maid. I’ve been very nice to the maid. I buy her stuff. We take her out for lunch/dinner. Take her out to the movies. Gave her salary advance when she just started work so that she can send money back home to Indonesia. Even took her to the Singapore Zoo on New Year’s Day recently.

Seriously, I can’t take it anymore. She’s really testing my patience!!! I really feel like letting her go. What’s the point of having a maid when I end up doing everything myself??? The only problem I’ll be facing if I were to let her go will be Shafiq. I can’t leave him all alone at home when I’m out running errands. Furthermore, Shafiq is a very “homely” boy, doesn’t like to go out much unless if it is a trip to Toys R Us, the bowling alley or the cinema.

Sigh.... Don’t know what to do.

Got to go. Time to fetch Shafiq from school.

(Note: As I’m writing this, the maid is watching TV in my son’s room)

Hello two oh oh ten!

"My first entry of 2010, not much words
but definitely loads of pics. :D"

Seven days into the new year, I guess it’s still not too late to wish everybody a very happy new year. May 2010 fill your hearts with new hopes, open up new horizons and bring you promises of brighter tomorrows.

My family & I welcomed the new year with a bang, literally speaking, as we were fortunate enough to get tickets to watch the fireworks at Marina Bay, here in Singapore on board one of the Hippo River Cruise. The fireworks display was spectacular, though it only lasted for 10 minutes, was indeed a wonderful way to usher in the new year.

One of the many, many shots of the firework display taken by Hubby.

The first few days of 2010 was quite hectic for me as the in laws (FIL,MIL,SIL,BIL my 2 years old nephew and their maid) were here and also getting Shafiq ready for school. (last minute shopping for school shoes, school bag, etc...) We always end up doing all the “tourist-ty stuffs” over & over again whenever we have guests visiting us. Hence, the 22 trips to Hong Kong Disneyland when we were residing in Hong Kong not too long ago.

Spent the first day of 2010 at Singapore Zoo. (my second trip there actually within a span of 2 months). I personally feel that the Singapore Zoo deserves to be ranked among the top zoos of the world. The animals are housed in beautifully landscaped enclosures which is very much similar to their natural habitats. So, to those of you planning a trip to Singapore any time soon, the Singapore Zoo must be on your list of things to do/see.

Some of the pics taken at the Singapore Zoo.

Shafiq & Mommy

Shafiq with his Atuk & Wan

      

A shot of the White Bengal Tiger taken by Hubby

Shafiq: "Mommy, when can I get my driver's licence?"

"Rombongan Cik Kiah"

"Rombongan Cik Kiah" kelaparan....

Shafiq, Mommy & the Orang Utans.

Shafiq, so tired from all the excitement at the Zoo.

The Giraffes.

Me telling Hubby: " Sayang, I'm sooooooo tired. Wanna go home!!!"

Second day of the new year was spent at Sentosa Island. It was once a fishing village known as Pulau Blakang Mati that later became a military fortress for the British. The island was then handed back to the Singapore Government and in 1968, the Government decided to develop the island into a holiday resort. The name "Sentosa" was choosen for the island resort as it meant "peace and tranquility in Malay".

There are loads and loads of things to do/see at Sentosa but we only managed to cover a few. We started  out at Imbiah Lookout that has about 11 attractions and later headed to Palawan Beach for lunch.

Pics from our Sentosa outing.

Mommy's little soldier.

Tiger Sky Tower - Singapore's tallest observatory tower

Shafiq & Daddy in the Sky Tower.

View from the Sky Tower.

"Wan" with her 2 grandsons.

Trying to get my nephew down from the truck.

Shafiq goofing around with Daddy & cousin Zafran (aka Fafan)

Taking a break at one of the many, many fountains. 

In the background, the Merlion.

Palawan Beach at Sentosa.

My darling nephew doing a "Baywatch" pose. 

Darling nephew doing...... (don't know what..) hehehe

Come January 3rd, left my in-laws on their own as they went off to Geylang & Orchard for some retail theraphy. Believe it or not, I spend the whole Sunday looking for a suitable school bag for Shafiq as school starts the following day. (Talk about doing things so the very last minute, well, that's me, guilty as charged!)

I wonder what 2010 has in store for me. 2009 was indeed a very eventful year for me and my family. I don't think I should dwell about the past anymore as it is a new year after all. Here's to hoping for a bright and happy year ahead.

Happy New Year You All!