The end has no end.

......So, this is how it looks like on the website if you get a positive result. And with it, comes an avalanche of emotions :- happiness, sadness and anxiety. Upon looking at the result, I was ecstatic beyond words, I felt like jumping, hopping around, like a rabbit going mental. I went to school and the first person that I broke the news to was Kak Wawa, a colleague of mine who started teaching in Semerah at the same time as I did. We shared many things together. How inexperienced we were, how frustrated we got sometimes with some of the things at school and of course, some other good news too along our journey. She got teared up as she heard the news.

And the news later spread like wild fire. I got congratulated from my left, right and center. As my days were numbered, I worked like a hamster on wheels, trying to complete what I must. I didn't had time to pack my stuff (which magically seemed to have multiply itself after 3 years and a half in Batu Pahat) and my mind was divided into many many little compartments, each dealing with different issues.

My students' jaw nearly dropped as I told them the news, one even had the nerve to tell me, "Alaa...suruhla suami teacher transfer ke Batu Pahat". I could only smile. If only it is that easy.

The teachers had a pot luck on Friday, celebrating my transfer. It was initiated by my colleagues who are close to me and although they tried to keep this celebration from me, it was to no avail. Something big like that and which involved all the other teachers is really hard to keep as a secret. My class (2 Seroja) held a small party for me, and the day before it, they INSISTED on me entering the class earlier than I should. Haha. I was so touched when I saw the two cakes on the table in the middle of the class, complete with candles being lit. Alamak. And all the boys were so cooperative, trying to help the girls, I was choking for words.

As I walked out from the class, the girls cried bucket but I managed to maintain my composure. I really enjoy teaching all of my students this year, both high achievers and the weaker ones. I will surely miss them heaps.

And then the makan continued in the staff room. I cut a cake given by all the Chinese teachers, and I will miss them sorely. They had been very friendly to me, always giving advises and helped me countless times. We always converse in English and they always made me feel like I am their little sister. They even gave me ang pow when I got married!

Before the school ends on Friday, I salam-ed all the teachers, seeking forgiveness for anything that I might have done wrongly, and my tears went streaming down my face when I salam-ed Kak Anis, another English teacher who sat opposite me. I always feel at ease talking and confiding in her. There are many things about her that I admire and yes, I do look up at her as my elder sister. I also cried when I salam-ed Kak Ila, the head of English department. I may never find another who I would be working comfortably with, like I did with her and the rest of the English teachers. Heck, I might not even be able to teach English being transferred in the mid year as the timetables are usually fixed by this time of the year :-(

And I will definitely miss my closest colleagues who called themselves "Geng Bas Sekolah". Haha. Some people might take them as being loud but I do think that they are very nice and helpful. And I am so thankful that I got to know them, who made my days in Semerah much nicer :-)

I was indifferent when I packed my things up. My husband would be coming on Saturday in a rented van to bring all my stuff back to Melaka and I was working full on, like a robot. I surprised myself with the ability to pack EVERY single thing, unscrew some furniture and actually had the heart to throw away bundles of stuff.

Nevertheless, suffice to say, that I am glad we managed to reach Melaka, looking at how the van was almost bursting with things.

And right now, as I am having my sweet time enjoying the 2 weeks off from school, I have been religiously checking out mudah.com as well as iproperty.com for our next official crib :-) I am looking forward for it, to finally be able to call a place as our home. A haven for the just the two of us. Although it would cost us a lot and we might have to survive on bread and water for every single day (God forbid I sure hope we won't!), it's okay because we would be doing it together.

So that's about it. Please do pray that we would be able to go through this house hunting smoothly and I would have a pleasant experience working at the new school. It was scary when I first took a look at it. My stomach twisted in the most uncomfortable way as I saw the environment surrounding the school, having the idea of the kind of students who enrolled in that school. But things happen for a reason and as an adult that I am, I say, bring it ON.

the second GSC in Melaka, whee!

Both my husband and I are seasonal movie lovers. Heheh. We try to catch the latest hit movies although there had been a couple of times where we missed some good ones and had to resort to buying the dvd. But nothing beats the huge screen and awesome sound system, no?

3D, 2D, you name it, we watched it.

However, I kinda loathe the idea of going to Dataran Pahlawan in Melaka to catch a movie when we are in our hometown. The traffic there is mad especially on the weekends!

There are also BIG cinema in Mahkota as well as MBO in Melaka Mall but nothing beats GSC.

So that's why I was pretty psyched when I found out that another GSC is opening soon in AEON Melaka, which is my most favourite shopping mall in Melaka, given that it has almost all that I need. Hehe.

After much waiting and anticipation, I found out that it will be opening (officially) come May 19th, 2011. Just in time for the latest Pirates of the Carribean movie :-)

I also found out that they are having free screening of these movies from 14th to 18th May:

"Gulliver's Travel" (PG 13), "RIO" (3D), "I Am Number Four" (PG13), "The Tourist" (PG13), "Green Hornet" (PG13), "World Invasion: Battle Los Angeles" (PG13), "Beastly" (PG13), "Cun" (Malay), "Hantu Kak Limah" (Malay), "Khurafat" (Malay)(PG13), "Enthiran" (Tamil) (PG13), "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (Chi), "I love Hong Kong" (Chi) and "Great Day" (Chi).

But in order to catch these free screenings, we would need to cut out or print out the coupons and it is on first-come-first-served basis so hurry if you want to be a part of this. I'm thinking of going. Maybe. :-)

You can check this out : here

vanilla

Last long weekend, our school held a trip to Langkawi which was joined by many teachers and a few students (hehe). I didn't join as there were a couple of weddings both husband and I wanted to attend. On Friday right before the long weekend begins, as I was teaching right in front and explaining them about forming plural nouns, those who were going to Langkawi had a briefing and for a brief moment, it interrupted my lesson. A student was called out for the briefing.

I quickly blurted out

"Hah, nak pegi Langkawi ye. Jangan lupa beli saye ole ole!! Saya suke ceklet!" and the class roared with laughter probably because of my expression which I think would be akin to those kepoh makciks you would always see in Malay dramas. I am animated to begin with. Heh.

The long weekend went by.

On Wednesday, right before I started teaching and while I was waiting for these rascals (hah!) to settle down, that aforementioned students came to the teacher's desk in front of the class and place a small bag that you always get from wedding ceremonies, on the table. I asked him what it was and he just smiled a sheepish smile.

When I went inside the staff room and sat on my place, I had a look at what's inside the bag (which was wrapped with newspaper) and voilà, there's a big bar of vanilla marble chocolate there by Cadbury. The one where there's a soft filling in the centre of the chocolate. I was quickly reminded about the incident on last Friday.

Alamak. Did this boy bought it out of fear?

I went to see him the next day to ensure that he didn't buy if out of fear and that I was just playing by asking him to buy me souvenirs. And he replied with;

Ikhlas la teacher :-)

Phew.

I will definitely savour that chocolate.

Students - although some of them could really drive you against the wall, there are a few who definitely could put a smile on your face in a way sometimes you can't possibly imagine.

One year ago

It was 1st May in 2010 where we had our merisik. Merisik is an important ceremony in Malay families. It's sorta like asking permission from the girl's side whether it's ok to befriend their daughter and it's also asking for their blessings in the relationship that is about to bloom. Some couples might have been committed to one another for years while some might be for months before they had this merisik ceremony. Most importantly, it means that the guy is ready to tie the knot with the girl and that the budget for getting married is there (or maybe on it's way there). It is also to indicate how serious that dude is and that he's not in it just for the fun of it.

Personally, I thought it would be a waste of money, time and energy. Hehe. I used to think so.

I would rather have an intimate akad / solemnization ceremony attended by close family and friends, followed by a feast for all. That would have been very cost effective (provided the menu is something simple - beehun goreng, anyone?)

But it all changed when Ammar's grandmom said that it is important to have this merisik ceremony and as headstrong that I am, I fell prey. :-p I listened to her explanation and agreed with most of her views.

And so we had our merisik ceremony on May 1st, 2010. Not many people know of this and I intended it to be so because as bubbly as I am (at times :-D), I am rather secretive.

It was a nerve wrecking experience because I had to cook for my future in laws! My absolutely darling mom was being her usual darling self, insisted on me preparing chicken rice for the future in laws. I prayed hard that the food won't taste bad. If our dishes really do represent our feelings and emotions upon preparing them, I sure hope that whoever eat my Nasi Ayam won't be fidgety with intolerable anxiety.

Luckily they turned out nice.

I put on my baju kurung and was very quiet and reserved.

My mom had my makcik as well as my paklong and aunty Aneesa (Paklong's wife - who is not Malay and was persistent in attending this ceremony -she wanted to know about all these things so that when her daughters' time has come, she would know how to handle them. Hehe.) to accompany her. Being the first daughter, this means that this is the very first time for things like these to occur in our family. We were so inexperienced and didn't know what to expect of.

Ammar didn't come though, it wasn't customary for the guy to attend this merisik ceremony. We were texting away while the elders did the negotiation on the coming events. It was all but a blur to me until the moment where we read our prayers (led by Ammar's Granduncle ) and this was followed by a ring given to me. A merisik ring. A very simple gold ring that symbolizes 'this girl is almost engaged - almost booked.' :-D

I was so happy when it ended. We were one step closer to being united for good.

We had about 3 weeks after that before my booking day ceremony or better known as bertunang. I was in a frenzy buying things for the gifts -hantaran as well as booking things that needed to be booked. It was going to be a simple but neat ceremony and I had everything DIY except the cooking part. Nah, that has got to be handed to the caterer.

Merisik was fun and definitely something to be remembered with a smile pasted on my face. Not for long now, it will be our one year anniversary since we said I do. Gosh.