For This I Blame: NESCAFE!

When I was younger, I got used to being compared with my sister, Izati. You see, she was fair, even as a child (whilst Mama told me Abah's first reaction to me when I was born was, "Hitam!"). She has long eyelashes that are as curly as a pigs tail and mine a short and razor sharp straight.. and well, the list goes on lah kot hehe..

I'm thinking that it was blessing that I waited for a baby sister for 9 years before getting one.. and had to endure THREE brothers before her as I adored her enough to agree with everyone. The only thing that miffed me was that whenever people praised her in front of me, and I'll be there agreeing with them (while actually telling them to notice how long her eyelashes were.. yeah, I was amazed by them since none of us before her, and after actually, have eyelashes like that!), they'd suddenly look at me as if they'd just noticed me.. AND they'd give me a lame praise, just to make me not feel left out.. I think la!

That annoyed me to hell as
1. I wanted them to look at how beautiful my baby sister was
2. Even as a kid I KNEW those praises weren't sincere hahah..

However, there's one praise that I got frequently enough to make me believe this was the ONE AND ONLY thing that was true.. and that is about my teeth!

And I guess the only reason I believe this one thing is because even my dentist (no matter how many of them I meet) always say the same thing.. I've got surprisingly white teeth!

So yeah, I grew to love my teeth after that la kot since I was always insecure about everything else about myself hehe.. evenmore when a few coursemates came to me one day (and these are people I've never spoken to before) to ask me how do I take care of my teeth (any treatments or whatsoever).. ok! Mcm lawak, kan hehe..

My friend, Mazrizul a.k.a Bob till now calls me Hantu Gigi Putih (don't ask me why ade 'hantu' kat depan tu)

Anyway, on the previous Teacher's Day, some students had wanted to take a picture with the camera-shy me.. I was trying to get away but somehow they managed to capture a picture of us together and a few days later, they had posted it in FB.

To my horror, my teeth were terrible!!

Lemme show you:

See!

Huwaaaa.. no longer pearly white.. now I have nothing to be proud of <--Ok, seryes mengade!

But still, I couldn't believe how 'yellow' they were and I kept racking my brains trying to figure out why.. and then it downed to me: Nescafe!

You see, I only started drinking those Nescafe Lattes a few years ago.. 6 years ago to be exact! I remember it coz it was during the time I was doing my write-up for my MSc dissertation. Before that, I almost NEVER drank Nescafe. You can ask my family, I use to only drink tea and if Mama made Nescafe for breakfast or tea, I'd usually make a pot of tea (or milo). If we went to somebody's house and they served Nescafe, I'd only drink a bit, just to be polite. When I started drinking then, I only drank Nescafe to help me stay up during my writing.. but then I go hooked up!

Grr.. now look at what it has done to my teeth!

Whatodo?!? Whatodo?!?

I'm thinking.. maybe I should lay off on the Nescafe. I still have 5 tins in my fridge (I usually keep them there so I don't have to buy before my classes). I guess I'm gonna finish off these 5 tins then I'm gonna go on a Nescafe strike..

Huh! See if I don't!! *cross finger*

Ohhh.. my teeth~~

Feeling domestic?

Ive been feeling a bit domestic lately haha.. granted this isn't a feeling I feel everyday.. or even every week for that matter. Sekali sekale sahaje haha..

Anyway, I finally decided to try my hand at the cheesecake recipe Mas gave us a few months ago. Ye, I know, I know, that simple recipe patutnye dari dulu dah bleh buat tp sy kan P.E.M.A.L.A.S, using the excuse that I don't have a springform pan (lame excuse, I know..). I even got to know that even school children are making this in their Kemahiran Hidup class but (as lame excuse number 2), their KH class is better equipped than my kitchen :p

So a few weeks ago, I went to Billion to finally buy this..

So tadek alasan dah kan, right? Hehe..

Still, I wanted something, an occasion, to do this and voila.. I got it in the form of last week being a birthday week for me. Not mine la obviously, but a few friends and a student of mine. Not that I made this and send to them la kan hehe.. but it was an excuse I could use hehe..

Turned out, mmg betul semua org cakap, it doesn't actually take much time to make it (nmpk sgt la sy ni byk sgt alasan kaaaaann :p) I even experimented with the topping, doing the marble-like topping Mas had suggested..

..but finally opting for the normal fruit preserve topping (since I think my 'marble-ing' skills are so not right yet!)

And tadaaaa..

Hehe.. bought it to class since I can't possibly finish it myself kan. Sorta like a birthday cake thingey for my student la kot haha..

*******

I've also found a way to help me curb my 'obsession' for tinned Nescafe (since the boikot thingey, I've been a bit self-conscious drinking it.. though I haven't actually completely stopped buying them yet..)

I found it a few days ago and since I've always been a tea-drinker, I like this choice better :)

See? Hehe.. There's another flavour, tea with passion fruit which is my favourite but I couldn't find one yesterday and only got to buy these two. Btw, ini adelah iklan tak berbayar ye :p I like it, though its a bit sweet kot..

Hmm.. tinned tea as opposed to tinned Nescafe? Not much differance you say? Hehe, maybe to you, but I've been trying for so long to find something else I could 'obsess' upon instead of Nescafe and since this is the next best thing, I'll take it :)

Next step: Plain water, Ayu.. plain water! Hehe..

*******

Still on the same page as feeling domestic, today I made my own lunch! :D

Far from tooting my own horn, I'm actually trying to salvage the last remnants of my ego as a 28 16-year-old woman girl who's independant enough to at least cook her own meals.. so bear with me please! Besides, as you will see, these are the food for singletons, LAZY singletons like me and not appropriate kot for big family meals :p

I found some coral leaf salad leaves in my fridge, and knowing that they don't actually last long enough as I'd like them to, I decided to make full use of at least one head of it (I had 2 of those leafy heads) Remembering a Rachel Ray episode in which she made some salad, tossed with bits of sliced steak (I just used plain beef burger patties.. The Ramly kind, NOT the homemade patties ye, I takde la terre ye :p) and baked cheese (she used goats cheese, I used the leftover cream cheese in my fridge).

Had fun doing it as it became a kinda adventure.. coz I forgot what was actually supposed to be done haha.. but in my own twisted sense of accomplishment, I think it was okay (since I'm not fussy in the food department, EVERYTHING would be okay kaaannn!)

Then, since I had always thought that greens don't fill you up (I could never understand those people who eat salad as a full meal..), I thought of doing something else too, with my salad as the side. Found some spiral pasta and thought of frying them so voila! My lunch hehe..

..and what lunch eaten alone would be complete without a good book, right! ;)

Still, sy agak la jugak nyesal goreng the pasta since the salad DID turn out to be VERY filling. Maybe sebab ade the chopped burger patties as well as the baked cheese. But I still stand my ground that greens ALONE don't fill you up :p

"Pulling an all-nighter" my a**!

Hmm.. ditemani 3 tin Nescafe, satu beg Cottage Fries dan tige peket Super Ring (Ohhh, sudah lame sy mengidam, baru petang tadi jumpe hehe..). Cadangannye untuk pull an all nighter and siapkan 2 paper yang diberangankan untuk dihantar ke EASTS conferance bulan October (?) ini..

Minum tin pertama..
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Bace ayat² pertama sebuah journal dan sudah menguap.. ubat tidur betul la journal² nih!
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Pergi toilet.. takkan nak citer ape sy buat kan? :p
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Main game cik Adyani ni seround..
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Bukak satu peket Super Ring.. oppss, make it two!
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Bukak file untuk paper pertame yg cume perlu corrections..
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(Errkk, nape sy lupe ye beze Method 1 dan Method 2 HCM ni?!?!!? Sudah nyanyuk agaknye.. mane la sy simpan thesis MSc sy ni..)
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Jln² dlm bilik postgrad sambil cube mencari ilham..
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(Ehh.. dah 1.45am! Nape rase cam tadek progress ye keje sy?)
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Alang² tadek progress, check Neopet sy yg dah lame kene tinggal itu.. sian dia! Layan la dia kejap kan?
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Bukak tin kedua.. dan buke Cottage Fries feveret sy, perise Tomato. Sy suke sbb masam.. tp kan, nape arini nye rase masin yg amat? (Tp abis jugak :p)
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Younes ade.. tanye dia pasal data dia yg nak dijadikan paper itu. Rupenye sblm ni sy salah paham, sib baik lum siapkan lagi paper tu (Iyerrr, paper ni w/pun sy yg buat, tp nak buh name org len dan data juge dari org len.. sy cume tukang tulis je so terpakse la buh name sy kat number 3 kot kan? Hmm, janji ade name, cukup hehe..)
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Termenung balik depan PC sambil buke file untuk paper kedua ini..
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Kalahkan balik high-score game cik Adyani ni.. yeay! (Oppsss..)
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Menguap lagik? Uhh, bukak tin ketige..
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Intai Super Ring bungkus terakhir tapi nak save dulu. Baru kul 3.11am.. kang lapo kang camne?
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Isi borang Graduate Assistant yang baru dpt siang tadi.. yeay! Tiade masalah kewangan sampai bulan April (The joy in small things haha..)
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Menung lagik
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..dan lagik
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dan lagik!!!
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Arrggghhh!

"Haha" moments for me

Yesterday, in the middle of the night (I'm suspecting she was on call during that time), As had sent me a new year's sms.

"There comes a point in your life when you realize who matters, who never did, who won't anymore.. and who always will. So don't worry about people from your past. There's a reason they didn't make it to your future.."

Ade la other parts of the message yang kurang penting yg sudah omitted. When I received that message, I was half asleep so I just read through it, didn't even realize it was from As. But then last night, after coming home from the movies with a friend, I sat on my bed replying an sms from my student when I remembered As's sms.

Reading it again, I went, "Whoaaa, thats deep.."

And for a while, it got me thinking. Made me smile a bit, even made me blink back a few tears when some memories just washed over me, staggering me a bit. Faces from the past then came rushing through me: some as vivid as they were sitting right on the bed with me, others like the passing of a fog.

I realized, everyone who had made their way in my life, no matter how long, left an impact in me. Made me a better person, taught me so many of life's lessons. Helped me when I couldn't stand, trusted me when I thought I was useless, shared their happiness and sorrow, held my hand when things seemed so bleak, cried with joy whenever I was happy.. and I realized, no matter what I felt about them at one time or another in certain points of my life, I love them!

So I replied to As, a token of appreciation for reminding me about this: "As, happy new year jugak utk awk :) 29 dah kite tahun ni As. 16 tahun dah sy kenal awk.. Thx ye jadi kawan sy! :) Rindu la kat korg sumer :("

Feeling happy about myself, knowing she'd understand, I was about swing my phone shut when an sms came in..

From As: "Awat hang sentimental sangat ni, Ayu? Thanx jugak sebab hang selalu ingat kat aku.. Happy new year tau :) "

Notice which part of the reply was the one I noticed? Cehh.. ditanye plak 'awat Ayu sentimental?'.. ciss..

And though she replied again after that saying, "Jangan la sentimental, aku sebenarnye sebak ni tadi.."

..my bubble had been burst! Huh! Nyampah ngan As ni :p

*******

Just got an sms from Hamdi, my student in Pt Buntar a.k.a Zul's (my colleague.. btw, happy birthday to Zul n wife. Lucky him, they share the same birthday!) nephew. He told me, "Rindu la nak gi tuition. Duk rumah ngantuk.. klau tuition tak ngantuk sbb dok dengar org jerit²!"

Ayu konpius, but felt something familiar here.. just couldn't put my finger on it.

When I asked him, he replied: "Klau tak skrg ni cikgu mesti tengah jerit² atau tengah bg cake atau nyorok belakang pintu atau tengah minum Nescafe.. atau ape² lagi laaa.."

He even once asked me when I told him I was doing my PhD mainly coz I couldn't find a job, "Kenape cikgu tak jadi askar?" Konpius lagik.. until he said, "Cikgu nye sore kan kuat haha.."

Aik.. hahah.. sejak bile I have a reputation of screaming/screeching/whatever else yang berkaitan?

Then I remembered, Zarul (another student) calls me a 'skuad leader' while this group of students who were talking at the back while I was teaching last year once said, "Cikgu, cikgu jangan la jerit kuat sangat. Kitorang janji, tak sembang dah pasni.. asalkan cikgu tak kuat sangat cam tadi.."

Erkk.. looks like another item on my new years resolution list: Pelan kan volume hehe..

*******

Another item: brush up on my loghat Penang!

I thought I was doing well. But a few days ago while going out with Bart, we had gone to McDs and I was eating the prosperity burger. After finishing up the burger, my hands were smeared with the black pepper sauce so I went to wash my hands before finishing up the fries.

Bart: Ayu, awat basuh tangan? Kan nak makan lagi..
Ayu: Ni haa, tangan saya tadi.. ape ni.. haaa, berselemuih!
Bart: *gelak terkekek² sambil pegang perut*

Ayu ngange jap..

Ayu: Bart, saya still salah sebut ek perkataan tu?
Bart:*lum abis gelak*

Caittttt!!!

This and that..

Bz la kunun Ayu ni haha.. sempat lagi meng'update' blog :p

I'm actually trying to finish off a paper I did regarding my MSc, ingat in a few days I want Leong to check it. Startnye dah lame dah tp tak abis² lagik huhu.. sungguh lembap ini orang :D

Anyway, just wanted to share a few tidbits, ups and downs and whatever you could put in those categories :) (As if la orang interested kaaaan haha..)

*******

A student of mine got hold of my number. Didn't actually care much about it except the part where he refused to tell me who he was. Ek elehh..

It wasn't as if he was sending me messages I'm not comfortable with, in fact, I really like him. Punye la banyak soalan dia nak tanye, the kind of student of every teacher dreams of hehe.. its just that, I felt weird teaching someone 'invisible'.

He kept avoiding my question on who he was and when he refused to answer, lagi la my curiosity rocketed up to the sky la kan. Punye la susah nak bgtau name dia. He kept replying, "Sy malu la cikgu.." Haha, malu ke bende, takde idung ek?

I kept telling him I won't teach him unless I knew who he was but in the end of course la I 'succumbed' and just taught him how to answer the questions.. huh, degil sungguh student ku ini!

Then one day, when he smsed me asking a question, I told him, "Awk takmo jwb soklan sy, sy pun takmo jwb soklan awak.. so jwb dulu, baru sy ajo.. klau tak, tunggu kelas esok je!"

I got this as the reply (spelling included): "Sy asal Sg Buluh.. Ada 4 sibling, sy ada ayah n mak.. Ayah n mak sy bek tau.. sy cuti g 2sen.. ambik math.. ckgu sy Nurikhwani Idayu.. dia bek tau..dia nk tlg sy b4 SPM.. smlm tlg.. Alhamdulilah buka gak ati dia.. tp arini.. aduh sedih la.. ckgu sy ni ske Nescafe.. k sy da jwb dah.. ckgu jwb soklan sy pulok :D"

..which left me laughing! Ciss, ngelak nak jawab jugok tu. Siap ade ayat simpati yg tak tahan tu haha.. and yes, I DID help him that night haha.. and yes jugak, I now know who he is :)

*******

Went back home kan aritu and went out with Mama, Umi, Izati, Annisa and Irfan.

You see, most people know how annoying I am when I drive. Suke sangat nyanyi, macam la sore sedap hehe.. So once upon a time ago, while taking Annisa for a drive, as usual la, I sang. Know what she did?

She closed my mouth with her small hands saying, "Kak Yong jangan la nyanyi.." while frowning! Ciss, ampeh je budak kecik tu.. Izati punye gelak guling² cakap, "Budak kecik pun tau sore kak Yong tak sedap.." Haha..

Then, mase kuar with my family, Izati had switched on some songs on her phone and though I wasn't driving, dok nyanyi gak la with her. This time, Annisa ignored me. Bosan kot dia, kak Yong dia ni asyik tak paham bahase..

But then I felt some eye 'boring' into me and when I looked around for the 'source', I found Irfan frowning at me.. Aik?!?!

When I stopped singing, he smiled.. and when I started singing again, he just started frowning again.. Izati ape lagi, mule la gelak tak benti.. nyampah tul la ngan budak² ni :p

*******

Last night pulak, I was reading one of the books I had just bought.. "Goodnight Beautiful". Still halfway through but I like it though its kinda 'sedey' for me.

Before I fell asleep, I came across this chapter where the Mal was telling Nova (the surrogate mother of his and Steph's child) Goodnight beautiful.. So when I put the book back on my shelf, mule la berangan, "Sape la nak cakap camtu (beautiful) kat saye kan?"

Then suddenly the incident a few days ago came into my head, and though I was still reeling from 'the ringing words in my head' that have upset me the past few days, I found myself laughing out loud..

Adeh! Baizurah, tolong saya hahaha.. and Ina, Bart Mak Su jugak haha! Seriously, I shouldn't be teaching that class again next year haha..

"Sy bukan budak pandai.."

Yesterday, something wonderful happened. Ok la, not actually happened to me la, but a realization of something gave me this wonderful feeling..

As said in my previous entry, I'm teaching form 4 going on to form 5 students. In one of those classes, I have 2 'old' students of mine who took my class in form 3. One is Miss Aiman bt. En Shah hehe.. and the other is this boy who shares my name.

Now, this boy when in form 3 was the type who'd frustrate me now and then. I know, I know.. as a teacher, I shouldn't be like that but I can't help it. Matters became worse when I myself admitted defeat in the end for him.. I really wanted to help him but it was as if he didn't want my help. And whenever I told him, he could do it, it just needed a little effort, he always told me, "Saya bukan budak pandai.."

I'm not proud of myself, but yes, towards his PMR, I realized that in not wanting to feel so frustrated, I sometimes avoided him. But he didn't care, in fact he happily enjoyed it with an 'in-your-face' attitude that made me sadder. I felt as if he hated me. Its not that I singled him out, other students were worse than him in maths, but I felt as if he didn't even wanna try. When the results came out, I didn't even think of him, rather thought of the other students whom I decided WANTED to at least try to succeed.

Fast forward to last month..

A new student came into my already crowded class (takde la crowded sangat, I just don't like large classes hehe..). When he wrote his name in the attendance, as usual, I wanted to comment on the fact that we had the same name but something stopped me as the name looked VERY familiar.. but the owner of the name didn't.

The feeling bugged me until the next day when it finally clicked.. OMG! I know him!!

Gone was the chubby boy and in his place was a bespectacled tall guy, half his previous size (btw, ape la rahsia dia ek.. nak tau gak heheh..). Part of me went, "O-oh! Not him again.." but another part of me who knew it was very bad of me to think like that scolded the first part of me. He still looked like he lacked confidence and I was still unsure if he hates me or not..

In class, he's a different guy now. He's more quiet and he actually LISTENS to me. And on one fine day, he raised his hand TO ASK ME A QUESTION.

I.WAS.SHOCKED.

But I was also suddenly so ashamed of myself..

Then last Sunday, I had handed out some extra questions for students who wanted them and though he also wanted the extra questions, I was still a bit wary with what he'd do with the questions.. I know, this is something a teacher SHOULD NEVER FEEL! I feel so bongok giler now!

And yesterday, which is MONDAY, just one day after I gave out the extra questions, he came in and almost shyly handed in his answer script.. when NO ONE ELSE in the class gave me theirs (I had told them to pass those questions to me whenever they wanted to). I'm sure my mouth dropped right on the floor then.. but I continued with the lesson.

Back home, without taking of my hijab, I 'attacked' his answer sheet and I came out SMILING & LAUGHING HAPPILY when I realized he had answered EVERY SINGLE QUESTION (some of them just submit the answers to a few questions.. which I don't mind since it was the extra exercise). There were still a couple of mistakes BUT HE TRIED.. and his total marks were somewhere around 95%.

I sat back in wonder.. and once again felt ashamed.

I had given up on him the previous year and yet he still came to me for this class. I had let him down when, for all I know, his 'in-your-face' attitude was a plea for help, a cry for his teacher to understand him.

I'm a BAD, BAD teacher.. whatever made me think I could try to be a good one, huh?

I sat there looking at his answers for a long time.. then I wrote a note for him on his answer sheet. Seeking redemption and forgiveness.. and hoping he understood that yesterday, he taught me a very valuable lesson.. DON'T GIVE UP ON THE PEOPLE WHO DEPEND ON YOU!

I want him to know that I NOW believe in him.. as I should have when he was in form 3. I want him to know that I'm sorry for giving up on him and for letting him down when he must have needed me the most.. and most of all, I want him to know that yesterday, I was the student, him the teacher..

To Asyraf Ikhwan, saya mintak maaf! :( Sebab awak, saya janji akan cube untuk tak putus asa dengan student² saya.. Thanx sangat² sebab jadi cikgu saya semalam!

Those lil' ones :)

I received a nice suprise in my class just now. Apparently my addiction for the tinned Nescafe is so obvious, my student decided to 'belanje' his teacher with a tin of the Original one. I had actually bought my favourite Latte on but thanx for the gesture Zarul. Just don't follow in my footsteps in this haha.. I REALLY hope those kids won't be addicted to it too.. and yes, this goes for you too Aiman.. nanti En Shah marah sy jadik bad influence to his only daughter, camne? :p

This school break, I'm having two classes. I was supposed to have my usual form 5 class in Parit Buntar but the teacher for Jawi had to go to Ipoh AND those student, in a fit to bully me (maybe because I always tell them, "Cikgu korang tak sayang kat korang, sebab tu dia asyik ilang je..", to which they always reply, "Maknenye cikgu sayang kitorang la ye?" Aiseyyyy..) had asked for me.. cehh! Tau what one student told me when I first came back to the class..

"Kan padan muke cikgu.. dah kene tengok muke kitorg hari²!!"

Sabo je lahhh.. hahah..

Anyway, eventhough I've taught for almost 6 years, this is only the third year I'm teaching for the school break and I usually love these school break classes as the majority of the students who come really wanna learn.

I remember my first class two years ago. I only had about 20 students I think.. ke tak sampai 20 ek? Ntah, dah lupe.. but I loved that class. I'm sure I've written a lot about them in my blog during that time.. you know, the one with Aiman (Bukan Aiman Kautsar tau :p) who told me, "Klau tak kawen umor 26, nampak sangat dah takde harapan!".. and I WAS 26 then hahah..

That class had this pair of unidentical twin.. and they really were NOT identical. Nak kate adik beradik pun I'll think twice.. Hana and Hani, ingat lagi hehe.. ape la citer diorg ni sekarang? The only one of them yg I saw recently was Nabil when he worked at Shell Pt Buntar during the SPM break.

I love this class as I felt as if they were all my younger siblings. Asyik gelak je ngan gelagat diorang, not that we didn't do any learning. We managed to finish 5-6 chapters during that 6-week course. I guess, I really DO prefer small classes..

Then last year was my second class. I had a lot of my 'old students' in this class so it was kinda fun.. though they knew too much about me haha.. more than I would've liked la kot. We didn't manage to finish as much chapters as I did during the previous school-break class but the class was relaxing for me.. though a bit larger than usual. I had around 25 students kot. Not much for most teachers, but a tad too much for me.

Still, we had our moments.. and those students still keep in touch with me till now :) I still feel weird when someone calls me 'cikgu' or 'teacher' whenever I'm shopping at the local supermarket or pasar malam but its grown a bit on me. And hey, now I remember, this was among the first classes to call me 'cikgu/teacher'.. my previous classes mostly call me 'kak Ayu'.. much to the annoyance of Cikgu Arun, my 'boss' haha..

This year, I'm getting a bit overwhelmed. My actual class in Parit Buntar has 40 students.. and since I prefer smaller classes, I don't really look forward to this class haha.. adeh! Teruk la Ayu ni..

Most of them are okay.. ade la biase tu budak² yang suke main². But then, ade gak this group of boys who think they're sooo cool, nyampah pun ade! One of them had written this four-letter word in his book, but I doubt he knows the meaning of it. Thats why la I nyampah skit hehe.. even when I call for attendance, he'd raise his hand while giving the finger.. granted la he doesn't actually give the 'right' finger, but I know what he means la, especially when the group of them laughs, thinking its funny. Mostly, I just ignore those rude gestures.. tapi ade mase, sakit ati gak la kot..

Then, earlier in this class was this boy who always sang to me haha.. at first, I thought it was funny. But then it got weirder bile dia mule tanye soklan pelik² and buat bende pelik².. Hahah, ingat saya tak takut ke? Budak form 5 pun.. For a while, phobia jugak la bile budak ni asyik nak tanye soklan je haha.. luckily, he only came for the first two weeks je. Hahah, nampak sangat Ayu ni penakut kan hehe..

The 'accidental' class plak I have around 30 students. Frankly, I like them more. As usual, ade budak yang rajin, ade yang suke memain.. but this type of memain tak de la menakutkan cam the other class. They are mostly acting as 17-year-olds should act la.. and their idea of joking masih bleh diterima la wpun Ayu terpakse menahan diri dari berleter ngn diorg nih.. at least with this class, I feel like I'm teaching my own brothers and sisters.

In fact, for tomorrow, I promised to bring Harry Potter #6 for Hawa and #7 for Mahfuzah :D

So I have another two weeks with these 70 students (70?!?!)

Question is, did I manage to teach them anything at all this school break? I'd hate to know I didn't.. Guess, eventhough I've taught for that long, rase tak konpiden still ade laaa.. I wanna be like Cikgu Nooriah, who made me see the wonder of numbers and made me realize, it wasn't too late for me.. but am I even remotely like her?

*sigh* Wish I knew..

You know you've been taking to much tinned Nescafe when..

There's a new grocery store in Taman Pekaka. Hmm, ok, its not really THAT new, around 4-5 month I think, but you get the picture. Anyway, I usually go to Muaz or AM/PM or 7-11 when I wanna buy anything as this new store is at the new shop lots.. jauh skit dari kedai² lain kan. So I've only been there, say, 3-4 times only.

So imagine my suprise when I went there this morning and the apek (Okay la, a bit young and smartly dressed to be called apek la..) smiled and said to me, "Sorry dik, takde stock.."

Knowing there was no one else in the store, I realized he was talking to me. I was a bit confused until I noticed that I was about to grab the Original flavoured tinned Nescafe.

"Latte takde la adik.. saya sudah pesan tapi blum ada stok.. Soli ahhh!!"

Hmm.. maybe I should cut down on the Nescafe, huh!!
(Or maybe I should go find another shop where I could buy it anonymously?!!?)

A tak-sedar-diri-byk-keje day!

Its 1.34am now and I'm in school STILL finishing the report. Sheesh! I really suck at translating English to BM and vice versa. The fact that right now, I haven't slept for exactly 43 hours doesn't actually help that much does it. I've already consumed 5 tins of Nescafe Latte and about to take my next dose of it if someone doesn't stop me at once!

Anyway, I admit, it might me a tad bit my own fault. I had promised Ad and Yee to go to the IPS Exhibition in Penang and take the 1st shift there. We had planned to go to Gurney after that (and this was waaaay before I knew about the report) and somehow, I still didn't wanna miss it..

So there I was.. I had stayed in school until 6.30am and only went home after Subuh prayers. Then I got ready before going out to pick up Ad and Yee and go to Penang for the exhibition. I was already a bit sleepy now but Aje came to cheer me up with his usual jokes.

Oh yeah, something unusual DID happen which left me, Ad and Yee confused.. and laughing our heads off. This 'incident' delayed our initial plan of going to Gurney right after our shift ended (1.00pm) and we only started our journey there around 2.30pm.

During that incident, we went to Chowrasta. Otw there, Ad noticed something.. apparently, public phones are still in fashion. Seems the MPPP decided to spruce up public phones and the telephone booths. I had tried to capture it on my phone but there we too many cars here. But I think you can see the kindergarten-colorful phones in the booth decorated with some sort of design here.. on second thought, am I the only one who found this fascinating?

Anyway, when we arrived at Chowrasta, I felt this great big sense of deja vu and suddenly saw myself, Misa and Amoi going around the shops here in search of old issues of Dragon Ball comics. Here, we bought them at RM2 per book.. quite a bargain, huh? Especially for us then school goers. Ami was the one who told me about these second hand book stores when she bought boxes of the Sweet Dreams series (also sold at RM2 per book). After that, whenever we went out, we were sure to come here in search for books. My friend As once even hunted for the medical handbook (?) here and suprises of suprises, they had a good copy (just like brand new.. honest!!) for her. I couldn't resist sending Misa a picture of one of our favourite stores there..

..then there was the magazine stand where we almost always bought our Dragon Ball, Dragon Quest, Yuyu Hakusho, Slam Dunk bla bla.. I sent a picture to both Amoi and Misa and both instantly recognized the magazine stand..

..but when Misa comented on how much she missed Maxim's sandwiches, I really laughed out loud. Just merely 5 minutes before her sms, I had just told Ad and Yee that Maxim's was our favourite bakery back then hehe.. Misa, awak mesti ingat kan, sebelum balik je, meluru kite gi Maxim's beli sandwich ngan bruchetta! Tapi tadi tak sempat la nak singgah.. :(

Anyway, fast forward to Gurney. We arrived around 3.30pm and quickly grabbed some lunch. Then I went to buy my facila cleanser and ended up buying the Total Turnaround as well. Lame giler dah tak pakai bende ni. Check out what else I received for my purchase hehe..

Then, as usual I got the vouchers and I bought this..

..for my bracelets and bangles! Yeay! I already had one before, bought at Lovely Lace..

..but it couldn't hold all my bracelets, thus this second purchase. The price on the tag was RM56.90 but I only paid RM1.20 heheh..

Before heading back here, we went donut hunting and THIS, dear readers, WAS my dinner (Half-eaten Aline there!). Now all are safely in my tummy, except for three quarters of the pinky one there :D

P/S
I actually have THREE classes tomorrow. 9.30-11.00am, 11.15 to 12.45pm and 5.15 to 6.45pm. Hmm, wondering if I'd be able to stay awake during teaching?!?! Or should I take a couple more doses of Nescafe, Dr Ina?

And the Nescafe marathon continues..

I'm in the post-graduate room, sneezing non-stop! Don't think I'm getting a fever though.. Ohh, tidaaaakk, jgn la.. mlm ni I have something on that I don't actually wanna miss yang telah menyebabkan teka-teki buat abg Fadzil dan Choong heheh.. biar je diorg suspen! Hehe.. sape suh wat spekulasi tah pa pe.. Akan jadik misteri bg mereka sampai kantoi hahah..

Anyway, judging from previous experiences, I'm guessing my non-stop sneezing is because of my Nescafe marathon + not getting enough sleep for the past few weeks.. yes Ina, I'm 'drinking' again.. adeh! I've taken some medication curtesy of abg Fadzil.. just a bit afraid I'd get too sleepy nanti.. aduh! Punah lah activiti misteri (for abg Fadzil and Choong la.. haha..) ku ini nanti klau saya mengantuk :D

Takpe Ayu.. marathon cume utk 2 kali jek lagi.. pasni leh tido puas² n concentrate PhD and activiti misteri (to drive both of those guys crazy hahaha..)

Heheh..

Pagi tadi otw nak gi sch, singgah la kat kedai dekat ngan umah tu for my daily fix of Nescafe Latte dlm tin tu (Ohhhh, Ayu suda ketagih semuleeee!!) Then mase nak kuar kete, terperasan la 2 org budak dlm lebey kurang 7~8 tahun tengah baik je pakatnye, tunduk² sambil pilih chocolate kat kedai tu..

Somehow, something struck me as odd..

Pastu baru pasan, 2-2 budak tu pakai kain pelikat and trus senyum sorang² sbb dapat agak dah, mesti budak² ni baru dapat green light utk kuar umah pas berkhatan. Chumel je tgk memasing pakai kain pelikat sambil suke pilih chocolate :)

Tingat mase Iwan, Adi n Ikram bersunat dulu. Adeh! Me as the one and only kakak they have, terpakse menurut perintah. Temankan diorg la ape la, terpakse miss tgk tv. Dah le diorg gume my room (my room je leh muat 3 tmpt tido, bilik diorg penuh!). Uhhhh, sgt 'tersekse' mase tu, asyik "Kak Yong nak tuuuu" or "Kak Yong nak niiii" hehe.. tp jugek sangat kelakar heheh..

Ikram paling penakut, ubat ape sume tanak makan and sanggup tahan nak weewee sbb takut sakit. Gile tul, pas 3 hari dia tak tahan sgt baru dia nak gi toilet pastu bile dia weewee lame sgt, panik dia panggil Abah sbb dia takut toilet bowl penuh ngan dia punye pee hahah..

Mase diorg baru balik klinik tu, beze je 3-3 org. Iwan masuk umah ngan chatterboxnye, mcm bersuant tu bende dia wat tiap² hari. Adi plak masuk umah dengan wat brave face. Senyum tu terplaster kat muke dia tapi dia tak mo cakap ape pun. Ikram la paling bes, whimpering je panggil Mama. Then bile Abah cakap, "Nape panggil Mama je, Abah kan ade..", dia tuko plak whimpering panggil Abah hahah..

Tapi mase tu mmg dengki la. Diorg dpt byk duit.. uhhh, tak aci! Dah le terpakse jadik nurse melayan diorg, sabo je le..

Mase Iskandar nye turn plak, dia sorg je.. tp sekali ngan our neighbour, Akram. Mase diorg ni bes, sbb student USM nak buat majlis berkhatan. Malam tu diorg sumer (ade dlm 20 org kot) 'bersanding' kat Desa Bakti. Then dapat kain pelikat sorg satu ngan duit and diorg dpt makan bes.

Esoknye, diorg duk kat court Desa Bakti and org bomba datang mandikan diorg gune the fire engine.. Uhhh, kak Yong dia terase nak join sekali heheh :) Then budak² ni kene dukung sampai Pusat Kesihatan and amik giliran nak berkhatan. Akram la kesian, dia takde kakak so dia datang la pegang my hand sebab dia takut. Sembg² ngan dia tamau bg dia takut (sbbnye Iskandar cam tak takut je time ni) pastu Akram nak pujuk diri dia sendiri, dia trus comment, "Kak Yong nnt bile nak bersalin nnt laaaaagi sakit dari Akram kan?" Adeh.. ke situ plak budak ni..

Iskandar nye turn, kitorg relax je sbb dia cam tak takut. tp tetibe dengar org menjerit dalam bilik Dr.. Huhu, upenye Iskandar la paling byk drama. Abah kene pegang kaki dia sumer and dia jerit tak berenti hahahaha.. padehal Dr tak start ape pun lagi.. Ohhh Iskandar, sungguh memalukan heheh..

Senyum sensorg plak bile teringatkan diorg ni.. sekarang memasing dah beso ngan perangai memasing. Kadang² rindu gak ngan diorg yg kecik, tp nak wat camne, sumer org membesar kan..

*sigh*

Erkk.. nape Ayu tulis dalam BM ye? Hahaha..

No way! Who says I drink Nescafe?

As a rule, I don't drink Nescafe!!

Really!

Trust me!!!

.

.

.

Okay, I can hear snickering in the room now!

Truth is.. I HATE Nescafe.. or any kinda coffee for that sake. During school, Mama usually prepared Nescafe for only her (with milk) and Abah (strong and black). Then it was Iwan, I think, who started to drink Nescafe too and the others started to follow suit, accordingly. So towards the time I came back to stay home after 3 years in the hostel, the morning beverage was mainly Nescafe and I did my own tea.. yup! I'm the tea drinker of the family.

I hated the bitter taste of Nescafe, even when sweetened milk was added. It surprised me on how much my family drank THAT drink while I'd rather have tea. Sometimes, I'd be the only one drinking it haha.. yeah, the whole teapot of it!

Oh yeah! Another reason I hated Nescafe was because I suck at preparing it. Back home, weekend breakfasts were supposed to be prepared by us children (READ: Kak Yong je le tuuu!). I didn't mind preparing the food, we loved experimenting with anything from the fridge, but I hated preparing the drinks (READ: the coffee!).

A pot of tea was a must, as I really dig in it. Milo was also a must for the lil' ones.. but coffee was supposed to be prepared for both my parents (before we started doing it in pots, to replace Milo, when almost everyone in my family started drinking it!). I'd be struggling the whole time, trying to remember the best ratio for coffee and sugar. Mama and Abah would just smile sweetly when they drank their coffee, but would drop subtle hints on how weak my coffee was.. aaarrrggghh! I gave up after a few weeks, Iwan was better at it so I graciously handed the task to him.

When I rented with kak Shima and kak Kathy, I was pleasantly surprised to find out kak Shima was a tea drinker too. We loved trying out any kinds of tea, though my tastebuds couldn't actually differentiate Earl Grey and English Breakfast. But I loved the fruit infused ones and the flavoured ones, thus the result: Our house was filled with all kinds of teas, much to kak Kathy's horror when she preferred plain Boh tea bags.

I have two avid coffee-drinker friends: Pojie and Yun. Its VERY seldom that they order anything else than Nescafe o' ais that I could conclude confidently both of them contribute A LOT to the profit of Nestle in their Nescafe sales. Without these two, Nestle would certainly suffer a great deal of loss.

Anyway, its not that I didn't drink it at all. A plus at not drinking coffee is that the caffeine in it surely helps whenever I wanna stay up, as opposed to for those immune to its effect already.

So, when I was busy with my writing for my thesis, I started buying tinned Nescafe. I mean, I HAD to stay up till 5am so coffee finally had an important part in my life. Still, I only bought the weakest one, Latte flavour.

Since I started staying up till 2am, I only needed 1 tin per day. Then I started staying up a bit later, until 3am. Gradually, it turned to 4am, and by this time, I needed another tin to help me stay up. Towards the end of my writing, I needed yet another tin to help keep me awake during the day, thus, making it into a total of at least 3 tins per day.

By then, Lie and Ramlah had commented that I'm addicted to Nescafe, much to my horror. As usual, I denied any kind of association with THAT drink, and stood my ground saying I only use it to stay up!

However, something made me feel like I was lying haha.. Then when I went to the postgrad room's fridge, I noticed that they were probably a tad bit right when I realized I had stocked 3 tins in the fridge for that day's se.. so I vowed, once I submit my 10 copies, I'd stop..

Fat chance!!!!!

After I had submitted, I thought it'd be good riddance to the tins of Nescaffe Latte. However, I found that I HAD to drink them so I won't get sleepy during my nightly tuition classes.. I blame this on the lack of sleep during the whole time of my writing. Still, I thought, when the school holidays come, I'd stop since I won't have any classes..

..or so I thought!

Turned out, cikgu Arun had scheduled night classes for me during the school holidays. So once again I became victim to the NescafeLatteignitis..

Just a few days ago, Choong was commenting on how much I love my Nescafe Latte and I was about to argue about it when I noticed the tins of Nescafe on his book rack. You see, Choong is an avid recycler (does this word even exist?) so I always keep my old newspapers and aluminium cans for him. For the cans, I always put them on top of his book rack whenever I finish drinking the beverages..

The picture above shows my Nescafe consumpiton of two weeks. Mind you, on weekends I seldom drink them as I 'don't have the need' to keep myself awake so those tins were usually from the weekdays..

..and I was suprised!

Hahah..

When Choong followed me to my car to collect the cans I've been keeping for drinks I take during my bight classes, once again he laughed at the bulk of it..

He left me with this question..

"Are you sure you hate Nescafe?"

..to which I honestly don't have any answer!! :)