School Concert 2008 & Graduation Day

Farhan and Ezzat had their school concert and graduation day today. It's way different from the concert we went last year at their previous kindergarten when we're still in Kuala Lumpur. Obviously the standard here is in Alor Star is still far behind but nonetheless we had a great time, especially for the 2 boys. I was hoping the school could provide the parents with a professional cameraman or photographer so that we could purchase the pictures and CDs later but there's none. The kindergarten which Emir and Farhan went last year did all that, and it's such a breeze and I didn't have to go all the way in front to snap some Kodak moment. Anyway, I thought it would be fun to put up pictures from last year too since there are some of you who might not have seen those.

CEC Concert 2007 :

This was at last year's concert. Emir and his friend posing at the backstage before their show - an Indian dance.

The 2 brothers. Farhan's wearing a traditional Malay costume for his dance.

Waiting for the show to begin.

The stage. Bad pic though coz it was taken using handphone.

Emir receiving his scroll from Ms. Aggy, the principal. Bad picture again. Thank god I have a sharp one taken by a photographer hired by the school.

Elite Kindergarten Concert 2008 :

Emir's goofing around while waiting for the show to begin.

Farhan's receiving his cert.

Ezzat in action. The kids are acting out a play based on a folkfore song. This is the best I can get. The zooming feature of the cam is not so great.

Farhan's turn. Another short play, and poor Farhan, his microphone didn't work. But he kept it cool and asked for another mic.

And we got a gift from a lucky draw! There were lucky draws in between each shows. The principal picked out a student's name (it was Ezzat's), and his/her parent was called out to get the prize.

Another show from Farhan. He's on the very far left, in white shirt, 2nd row. If you look closely, you could see that he's a bit distracted coz Emir was right in front of the stage watching. I love the sound from the Anklung, the instrument played by the kids from the 1st and 2nd rows. Anklung is a traditional musical instrument and it's made from bamboo. The hollow bamboo reonates when struck and the length of the bamboo determines its pitch of frequency.

One tired boy.

Mr Farhan got a present for being the one who showed most progress in his class.

The 3 brothers.

With Mr Khoo, the principal. The boys fondly calls him Mr Kool coz he's really a cool teacher.

Last pose before we go home.

Ezzat is 5!

Pictures of Ezzat when he was 1 - 2 yrs old.

2 - 3 yrs old

3 - 4 yrs old

4 -5 yrs old

So Ezzat celebrated his 5th birthday last Sunday, 19th October 08. He's been looking forward to it as birthday = more toys! I didn't really prepare anything except some goodie bags for his friends at school coz we just came back that Saturday night from attending my brother's engagement ceremony in KL and getting some documents for the visa. He got some presents from his principal, Mr Khoo, or Uncle Kool as Ezzat calls him and he's soooo happy when I came to fetch him at his kindergarten. Unfortunately I misplaced my camera so I missed a truly Kodak moment (I found it later under the car seat after 3 days of searching). Anyway, we had an impromptu birthday celebration for him that night although I was terribly exhausted from the trip back to Alor Star especially when I have these 3 bumblebeez who kept buzzing all the way (the whole journey is about 450km). Called up my brothers, but only one made it. And Auntie Aida - yay!

Here's the birthday boy. He looks much better with long hair.

Ezzat with his uncle, Najmi.

Grinning coz he got to put the candles.

His choice of cake. Luckily there's a bakery next to the restaurant.

Ezzat with Auntie Aida...and a present from her!

And here's a video of the happy boy.

Eid in 2 days!

I'm at the office, still. When everyone else..(almost) seems to already be in Eid mood. Luckily my assistant Ina still turns up to work, happily singing along to Eid songs on the radio since early morning. Emir has started his school holidays yesterday for a week while Ezzat and Farhan still go to their kindergarten which is already 90% empty by the way. AndI rather them spend some time learning something over there rather than at the laundry shop watching Ultraman the whole day. Luckily they don't protest!

One good thing this year, I don't have to join the frenzied traffic on the highway unlike the past 13 years coz I am already in Alor Star! Though I kinda miss all the excitement of going back to my 'kampung' (Kampung = village). It's always been very bad this time of the year, when people rush to go back to their hometown and traffic jam will always be massive, and cars will stuck for hours on highway. Along the way to office these few days, I saw many cars parked along the road side, the drivers stopped to buy fresh meat from instant mushrooming small stalls. And then there are lemang sellers everywhere. Lemang is a delicacy and one will usually find it only during Eid. It's made from glutinous rice, and instead of water, it's cooked with coconut milk, barbecued in hollowed bamboo stick. Yummy to be eaten with rendang which is another delicacies. Rendang is a dish, we either use white or red meat or vegetables even, cooked with some herbs and spices, chilies and coconut milk, slowly simmered so that the meat becomes tender and the liquid is almost gone, and the flavor of all the ingredients are nicely infused together. It takes hours, but the result is worth all the waiting. I'll take some pictures if I come across any of these later.

By the way, I still have many pictures need to be uploaded. Do you guys still want to see them? It's been quite a long time and they may not be that fun anymore to see...heh..I'm such a lazy bum when it comes to uploading coz it takes such a long time sometimes.

Anyway, here are some family pictures taken on morning of Eid last year. Mom always want the color to be coordinated so you'll see some sort of uniforms in here hehe. Nabila (my little sister) is missing though since she's in Auckland and will still be there until end of this year. I went to the tailor yesterday and my Eid dress is not ready yet coz the tailor's mom-in-law just passed away last week. But she said she'll try her best to make it ready by the 30th. So let's hope it will be ready by then. It's a tradition to wear new traditional clothes on morning of Eid. The boys already have theirs since mom bought for them. And Uncle Daniel has one too actually. Not sure if it fits him though. Too bad he's can't join us this year. Next year perhaps? :=)

Ezzat 's playing 'bunga api' on eve of 2007 Eid.

A picture of Mukthi's Fam plus Yati on morning of 2007 Eid. Notice the colorful envelopes that Farhan's holding? Kids get money in packets like that instead of presents - we call it 'duit raya'. I miss those days when I was still entitled to that huhu. Really fun days with all the $$$$! Nab's missing. Adik!.....Next year boleh join balik naaaaaaa.

Just us.

Hanging out before going back to Dad's village in Jitra.

Cheeky boys, happy to get duit raya!

Aaahhhh..this is the larger version of the Mukthi's clan at my Wan's house at our village. Almost all of my uncles and aunties are here, except for one with his wife. Wan (grand dad) and Tok (grandma) already passed away so many years ago. Dad's the eldest in the family, with 3 other brothers and 2 sisters. See how the boys outnumbered the girls? I think that's explain my 3 boys? Unfortunately I don't have any pictures of mom's side of the family. Hope to get some this year.

The heroes.

The Arabic alphabet song

Nadiah's house!

A video by Daniel