Camp - Day 3

I am still at camp. It's our third day today. Things are going as planned. Kids are happy and enjoying the program we created for them.

The adrenalin rush has started to pick up. I will be mobilizing my closing day team by today. It will not be an easy task. We will have about 300 guests coming to the closing program... comprisng of parents, teachers, schools adminstrators and officials from our client.

I must say the closing event is already giving me the butterflies in my stomach as it will be the climax of the entire camp program.

My team and I will give it our best shot...so just wish us all the luck that we can have!!! No matter what...the SHOW MUST GO ON.

Away at Camp (Again...)

It's been a while since I managed to update the blog. Have been so occupied with work and some personnal matters.

This week will be another hectic week. My team & I will be running an ICT camp for kids in a hotel up north. Unlike the previous camp where we were rather inexperienced in carrying out the camp, this time around we are better prepared. The amount of work, however, is still mountaneous.

Today is my 3rd day in Kulim and camp participants (sounds like the title given to Dr SMS yah...space participant ;-) ) have started their program. There are 42 of them....teenages whom at the end of the camp are to benefit the most out of this program.

Now...that's the TALL order from our client and a challenge for me and the team.

Have Internet Will Blog

Today's my second day in Bukit Mertajam, a quiet and slow town in Penang. Getting access to the Internet is definately a challenge. Last nite I managed to get myself connected from my room via...??? KamdarBM's wireless!!! Tak kisah la...janji dapat clear my emails.

It's been raining since 3pm. Kamdar's wireless signal is no longer detectable from my room. The hotel where I am staying has wireless connectivity. However, it's only available near the area of the ballroom.

So no choice..have to lepak around the lobby outside the ballroom to do my work.

Checkout the facial expressions. Kepala dah penin....

So tired already....

and...my notebook sits on the chair....

Festival of Lights

Happy Deepavali to all our Hindu friends.

Deepavali or Diwali is a major Hindu festival.For Indians there is no bigger occasion than Diwali, which symbolizes the victory of good over evil.

Ohhh...What a Gathering!!!

It all started with Muni bumping into Aunty Salmah in Subang Parade one Saturday during the fasting month. Aunty Salmah and her husband Uncle Mohd Noor were our parents angkat when we were studing in UW - Madison back in the 80s. It has been a while since we last met.

Raya...they say, is the time to rapatkan yang jauh and yang lama tidak berjumpa. So the date was set for Sunday 28 November 2007 for us Muni, Jupe & I and our families, the 3 anak angkat to go visit Aunty and Uncle in their house in Taman Tun Dr Ismail. Aunty Salmah also pesan to invite other friends yang kenal. Not a problem..and Muni sent out sms to our other friends. However, with Raya open houses still "hot", coupled with wedding invitations flying around, some friends had to excuse themselves.

"Tak pe lah...kita-kita aje.." I told Muni when she said only the few of us could make it to Aunty's place.

I was the last to arrive at Aunty's place that Sunday afternoon. Aunty Salmah who was as radiant as she has always been greeted us at the door. Then came Uncle Mohd Noor...his usual self....so jovial and friendly.

I headed towards the dining table and..there was Nawal & Rohaya!!! Gosh...we haven't met for ages. Nawal looks still the same...so preety...so graceful. And Rohaya pun nampak sama jugak since last we met.

The afternoon was spent eating the delicious food Aunty (or was it by Chef Shahril??) had prepared. Uncle showed his collection of pictures from those days in the US. All neatly labelled and well organised in his photo albums.

We reminisced those days in UW - Madison. The conversation went this way.."Oh...ingat tak Aunty so and so and Uncle so and so....their cucu dah...." We would update them pulak with stories of friends we know.... "Oh...kak so and so...married so and so..and got anak...." Bercerita sampai tak ingat petang..heh..heh :-))

Uncle Mohd Noor in blue and Aunty Salmah in red kurung, surrounded by us the anak-anak angkat.

From left Jupe, Me, Dolah (Muni's hubby), Uncle Mohd Noor, Aunty Salmah, Rohaya, Nawal, ABE and seated in pink, Muni.

Tha..da....this is a real classic picture. Rummaged through my old UW album and found this. Our 1st raya in Madison. Guess la who's who?? Akhhaaaasss....so shy to identify ourselves. We were many, many sizes smaller back then!!!

But most of all, I (and I know my other friends feel the same way as I do too) am glad so see both Aunty and Uncle so loving, so ceria and are still their good ole selves and are now Toks to their 6 beautiful grand children.

And..from the looks on their faces, they are surely enjoying every single minute of it!!!

2nd Try - Slide show

Tried putting this picture slide sometime back but it didn't work. Finally today....percubaan berjaya :-)

Where's REAL Kampung?

Where's our REAL kampung?? You know...those with traditional wooden kampung houses and fruit trees, sawah bendangs, river streams and chickens running around.

Both ABE's and mine are in....KUALA PILAH (KP) lah where else. Actually this is where our parents are from. Lucky us coz we still have Pak Ngahs, Mak Langs and Mak Ciks who live in the traditional kampungs.

On the first day of Raya we went back to both our kampungs. ABE's in Sri Menanti and mine in Juasseh. Ooooo...where on earth is that?? Well, Sri Menanti is the royal town of the Yang Di Pertuan Besar of Negeri Sembilan (and there's a golf course there as well!!!) while Juasseh is a small kampung one would pass on the way to Bahau.

My late father's kampung house

Driving along the state road to Kuala Pilah for Raya these days is so different from the times when I was a little girl way back in the 70's. Today, the road is swampped with cars bearing out of town plat numbers. Nampak nyer ramai dah orang Pilah yang dah berhijrah ke luar KP :-)

Cars lined in the crawl up Bukit Putus

This was how slow we had to drive in the jam up Bukit Putus.

Like Raya of the previous years, there would always be a traffic jam on the second day of Raya. A jam as long at 5 - 6 kms if one is not lucky. This year there was even an announcement on the radio about the jam in KP. When I heard that..I couldn't help but say..."yah, that's my kampung alrite".

Way to go orghang Sonanti, Jomapuh, Tanjung Ipoh and Toghrachi...moh kito balik Pilah rghamai-rghamai...