Merhatun

I believe my maid Asnah has quite an impressive vocabulary consisting of English words which she chooses to pronounce on her own terms.

One such word is "Merhatun".

When Imran came back from camping with a bagpack of damp soiled pile of clothings, she'll say:

Hai, esok merhatun lah kakak basuh baju!!!

When the bungalow owner behind ours continuously renovating his house, Asnah will complain:

Kontraktor tu merhatun pecah sana pecah sini, pening kepala saya dengan bunyi bising nya!!

I figured what she meant to say was actually 'marathon'!

Yesterday evening I finished dinner early and told the kids:

OK then, mama nak merhatun tengok Drama Korea!!!...

'Saranghaeyo'

All over again....

All over again??
That's my daughter Dilla's remark to me yesterday as Imran and I entered the house.

My youngest son, Imran is going to sit for his SPM next year!
He is a better student than his brother, based on the fact that he scored As in all 8 subjects during PMR (my version of LCE) which he sat for last year.
So he thought that it will not be too difficult for him to tackle this year's syllabus at school and therefore he does not need to go through the same torture as his brother with additional tuition classes.

However, a year in form 4 has passed and he was not too happy particularly with his understanding of Additional Mathematics.

Day before yesterday he asked if he could get the assistance of Mrs. Radha.
Since he is the one who volunteered to be grilled by Mrs. Radha, it must be a sign of him giving up on his present method of studying Add Maths.

I immediately made that vital call to Mrs. Radha.
She asked Imran to come on the very next day!!

mama: same house, same cat?
Mrs. Radha: Oh, MI, I don't want to talk about the cat, it's so sad!

segarang2 Mrs. Radha, she still cares for her cat. That shows she has compassion, I consoled Imran.

So, yesterday Imran trapped himself for 2 whole hours with Mrs. Radha, the first of many more mathematical sessions till SPM next year.
But he knew it is for his own good, seeing how much his brother had improved under Mrs. Radha's tutelage.

When we arrived home, both Imran and I were talking in Mrs. Radha's lingo and quoting her favourite quotes.

That's why Dilla said sympathetically, it's All Over Again, eh mama?

Tui Na Therapy

I went for a traditional Tui Na therapy yesterday.
It's a form of pressurepoint massage which originated from China.

Lily, the lady therapist from China, put her fingers on my neck and shoulder, started to accuse me:

NO GOOD!!! YOU NO SLEEP!!!!!

I was breathing heavily with my face stuffed in the hole of the massage bench, looking down to the floor, thinking loudly:

Yeah what else is new??

She sort of mutilated my back, neck and shoulder.
When I went to bed, bruised, at 10pm last night, I was shocked to be awaken only at 7am by Imran to send him to school.

Wow, Tui Na, that worked!!!

Insomniac wreck

Sleep defies me nightly since Papa took a new job and based elsewhere....

It has got something to do with a certain sense of insecurity, so much so that I'll be wide awake in the middle of the night even at the sound of a falling leaf in the front garden!

Luckily, so far, Papa managed to fly home on most weekends, otherwise, I would be carrying 2inches of sag under each of my eyes.

The children, bless them, are concerned about my situation.

Dilla have been buying loads of DVDs for me to watch at night when I can't sleep.
Ikram, for the first time in his life got me a book to read:
'A Thousand Splendid Suns' by Khaled Hosseini.

I started on the book and could not put it down. Finished reading it in a day and unfortunately when I finally dozed, I dreamt that I was in Afghanistan under the Taliban regime, just like what was described by the storyteller.

I realised then that reading myself to sleep is not exactly a good idea!
I woke up more tired and sweaty from dragging the Burqa, walking on the streets of Kabul!!!!



I will probably watch 'Mamma Mia' tonight. See if I will be dancing and prancing instead in my brief elusive sleep......