Dreams from My Childhood

While I was growing up, our family had to move around a lot due to my late father's job. He works with the government and back then government servants normally have to move to different locations every few year.

If I recall, I had went to three primary and four secondary schools during my eleven years of school years. I wasn't sure whether my parent realised how hard moving to new schools was for me (these things were not discussed openly in my household). Due to these constant move, I often get confused this friend is from which and which school whenever I came across my childhood friends now. On the plus side, I had made more friends but I wished I had the opportunity to stay longer with some.

Of all the friends, those that I love the most are my best buddies from my time in Sarikei. We had went to Primary 5 and 6 together and then we moved to Form 1 to the neighbouring secondary school. We were always together in school and afterschool. Cycled everywhere in town, pretended that we were detectives, sliding with cardboards at the hills near Helena's house. Grew up from a child to a young teen together. So when I had leave those friends, it broke my heart and I never really did find a similar group after that.

Coming back to my childhood dreams, one of them, predictably, was to be able to stay at one school forever and stick with the same friends till I finished school. Another big dream was to be able to learn to play the piano. During my time (children of the 80's), learning to play the piano was only done by those who has well-off parents. In school, it was normally my Chinese classmate with parents who are either doctor, accountant or businessman. I did not see classmate of any other races going to piano lesson. So obviously asking my parents whether I could take piano lessons was out of the question. I don't know why it was the piano that I chose to dream about. I guess it was the dream of being able to play an instrument well … come to think of it, I think I chose the piano because I saw it as a grand and beautiful piece of musical instrument (I had the opportunity to see one up close during my Chinese New Year visit to that particular classmate).

Now all grown up and better off economically, alhamdulillah, I finally achieved my dream to learn to play and bought a piano myself. I learnt for about a year with Teacher May. She was a good and patient teacher. Unfortunately I think I have overestimated myself …. I found that I don't have the patience to practise and practise, considerably tone-deaf, can't read the notes (no matter how much I try to remember), no natural in-built rhytm and melody. So I stopped when I was pregnant with Wajdi and never resume my lesson since. I have my regrets, of course and hope that I will find the time and perserverance to take up piano again one day.

So last Sunday, Hasanah was given the opportunity to perform a piano recital at the Yenzi Plaza during an Arts & Music fair. We had sent all our three daugthers for piano lessons while in Miri since they were young. Hasanah started with violin when she was 7 years old and piano when she was 8 years old. She had obtained Piano Grade 2 and missed Grade 3 test last year because we thought that we'll have already moved to Gabon by then and thus didn't enroll her for the exam. Now in Yenzi, we're fortunate that there is a teacher offering piano lessons. I have enrolled Hasanah & Afifah to continue with their lessons here.

Back to the Art & Music fair, needless to say Hasanah performed excellently. I am very proud of her as she was able to play a difficult and long piece (hands crossing, pedal required and an 8 minute classical piece called 'Sonata') very well and calmly just like a professional piano player. She gained the admiration and respect of the multinational audience. Here is one quiet unassuming Malaysian girl wearing a hijab but able to play the piano beautifully.

I may not be able to realise my dream of being a concert pianist, but I am equally happy that my daughter has learnt to love the piano as well and doing a better job at it than I am.

To Hasanah, I am so proud of you and admire your perseverance in learning. May you have many more piano perfomances in future, insya-Allah. My eldest baby has grown up so fast, it feels like only yesterday she was this tiny little girl sleeping on my shoulder.

To Flo, Ruth, Cory, Yoke Meng, Helena and Evelyn, I missed our times together.

Till next time, insya-ALLAH

TAKEN FOR GRANTED....

My husband wrote in his blog few weeks ago about his passion for cycling. We both share this love for cycling and have been renewing that love while here in Gabon.

Today Kak Ju and I were teaching two of our ladies friends to cycle. They have never cycled before this back in their own country nor did they had the opportunity to learn during their childhood. One was not able to cycle due to financial constraint while growing up as in her country a bicycle is considered a luxury. The other was constrained by the norms of being a girl i.e. her society frowned upon girls doing what is deemed as a “boy's thing to do”. I never thought that riding a bike was only boy's stuff before......

This afternoon, in the open air and underneath the clear Gamba sky, they got on the bike for the first time of their life and tried their very earnest to balance, to pedal, to cycle on a straight line and to stay on the bike longer than a few seconds (intermittently there were either curses or prayer for divine intervention, I wasn't quite sure as they were speaking in a foreign language :)

For myself, it was a joy to see and teach as it brings back the memory of my own first time. Everyone have their own special memory. The joy was to see two very grown up women, each with children of their own, trying to master a skill that most of us have taken for granted. To them, it was a wonder to see other ladies cycling so freely and when it was their turn to learn, they said “ But you all make it look so easy!!!!! It is not easy at all.”

True. I am sure that it was not a piece of cake for anyone to learn cycling for the first time. The frustration, the fear, the many falls and scratches were there to remind us but once we learn, we never forget.

To quote Confucius “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”. So for my two good friends, today is their first step. Salute. I hope to write soon that they have learnt to bike. Wish us well.

I too love cycling. Till next time, insya-ALLAH.


*Updates*
I am pleased to report that one of the two friends have been successfully indoctrinated to the world of cycling. She did it within less than 1 hour which is amazing considering her "young" age and no prior cycling experience. She also arrived late for her lessons :P. Thats proves that some people can surprise you unexpectedly. Meanwhile the other one seems to be discouraged by the first experience. We just have to wait patiently as these sort of things can't be forced.

BISMILLAHIRRAHMAN-NIR-RAHIM ......

First of all thanks to my hubby who has created this blog site for me. I have been meaning to do it myself for a while but as usual, when it comes to internet matter, it is not my forte.

So welcome to me. What do one write for the his/her first blog? I am not really sure. Few topics came across my mind and I have decided that I will try to write about those in time. For today I would like to share my insights about Gamba particularly Yenzi Camp, where we are currently residing.

It is a small residential housing area with about 100 houses (??? or so, I don't really know, I am guessing). This housing area was built for the company staff and their family. The houses design and layout are similar to those in Miri Camp.

When we first came here for a preview visit way back in April last year, I couldn't really gauge the feel of camp life as we came during school holiday time (Easter) so most of the residents where flying out for their holidays. At the time, I had no specific impression on the camp except that the houses were decent considering this is a country in Africa. The town is called Gamba and it is similar to Bekenu. Now I just say to folks back home that Gamba is the same in size with shops like those I have seen in Engkelili, my late father's hometown. There is only one airport, one supermarket (½ the size of Kenyalang in Miri) plus few more wooden shops in town.

Come mid September last year, the family moved to Gamba to follow my husband's work posting here. So for the last few months, we have been experiencing the expat life staying in a remote foreign place like Gamba. Definitely it is no place like those of the more glamorous postings like Manila, Dubai, Holland, Norway etcs. Life here is still very simple, exciting (come elephant season), humbling (when you see how the locals live) and to a certain extent, sometime difficult.

Difficult is to find food that you are used to back home. Coming from beloved Malaysia, I am sure this is the common problem all Malaysians faced when they moved overseas. The richness in taste and variety of our food coupled with the passion we have for eating, we often carry that wherever we go. So yes, good food is difficult to get here, no decent takeaway shop and not much halal food option available. Fresh fruits, meat and fish are hard to come by.

But there are definitely things to LOVE about Gamba and Yenzi Camp. I don't know where to start because there is plenty. School for my children is only a stonethrow away (no joke, I can throw a stone to the school compound from my house, I think). I can see the school from my house patio and my kitchen sink view is children cycling to school every morning. The office is about 7 minutes by car and hubby cycles to work everday, weather permits. The school is excellent with good teachers and interesting teaching methodology.

The school follows the British syllabus so my children has to brush up on their English, whether they like it or not. The school has excellent after school activities (we called it co-curriculum back home). Now where we have Scouts, Girl Guides, Red Crescent society but guess what the children here are doing after school? They are learning skating ( a.k.a rollerblading), water-skiing (I know, I know, I myself is envious at Hasanah who is doing this), line dancing (not just poco poco), nature club with experts from WWF (with real bird watching, fishing in the pond) and many others that can't be mentioned for fear of invoking more jealousy out there :P

These incredible activities are possible due to the talented and very supportive parents we have in Yenzi camp. They have allocated their time one day every week to teach the children these new skills. Merci beaucoup!!! I should also mention that swimming is an official subject at the school. Now what is there not to love about going to school with this much exciting stuff happening??

For me, I am thankful for these opportunities for my children to be exposed to new things and making friends with different language, nationalities and religion.

One more thing that the family is enjoying tremendously here, is the freedom to cycle anywhere we want in the camp. I think I forgot how liberating it was to feel when you are cycling with the wind in your face. I cycle to send Wajdi to school and yes, a 3-year old like him also cycles to go to his kindergarten. So cute with his blue bike and helmet! Now this would not be possible back in Miri with the dangerous traffic. My bike (my beloved Gazelle bike) is attached to a 2-seater child carrier at the back (my kids called it the taxi). So I can bring my little Shukri and Wajdi even when I am cycling. I love it and am so glad that we managed to get it just in time before we left for Gabon.

The girls cycle to school, to swim class and to their after school activities. Aliyah even perfected her cycling skill here as she was still on training wheels when we first came and graduated to two wheel within the first month (out of necessity as she was determined to cycle to the pool like the rest of her classmates). Everything in camp i.e. school, the kindy, the club, your friend's house is all within 2 to 3 minutes of cycling time. Heaven! Hope I can slim down a bit with all this cycling ehem ehem.....

Our house is a single storey with 3 bedrooms and a patio. There are no gates and the house compound is huge. While I am typing, I took a peek outside and can see our flower garden beginning to take shape. I didn't realise how much I love having a huge compound. We had a tiny patch of land at the back of our Miri house, just enough for a cherry tree and a swing but not much left for a flower garden.

This a long first posting but I didn't know how to condense it any shorter. There is beauty in living here. To be able to enjoy the simple things in life like cycling, great school and the convenience of having everything nearby is something be thankful about, syukur alhamdulillah. We have also made some great friends. I am hoping when it is time to go, that we will be able to find a similar charming housing area like this in Malaysia. I shall have faith.

Till next time, insya-ALLAH