looking forward to the weekends

ahem.. sorry - if you came here after skipping 'Blossom E's surprise win' entry, due to my smart aleck advise on 'if masa mencemburui anda', i'd have to apologise. I didn't realise how super long this post is! it must be my longest post EVER. So.. err.. yeah.


I can't remember the last time I arrived VERY early at the office - like 15 mins before office hours. But today I did! Thanks to having to send my daughters off to school on their first day. All 3 girls are in the morning school this year.

I must say, this morning went smoothly. I sent Eema and Nadhrah to school. Hubby sent Hanaa.

Eema arrived at school JUST on time, thanks to the traffic. Nadhrah was also... sort of on time, because I had to check on Eema's books in school. Anyhow, kira kan Nadhrah arrived on time jugak lah.. cause when we arrived, some kids just got off the school bus (even though it was 10 mins after school hour was suppose to start) - first day hiccups.

Yang paling kesian-kelakar.. Hadi.

Alhamdulillah, Hadi was accepted to Singapore Sports School , a boarding school kat Woodlands - for... err.. sports. He has to stay there the whole school week and comes home on Fridays after school. Report back to school on Sunday nights.

We are totally FIRST-TIMERS when it comes to boarding school. Last weekend, I packed Hadi's school uniforms, training attires, pyjamas, 1 set of golf attire, undies, prayer mat, toiletries, golf stuff - he is all equipped, so we thought.

Yesterday, when Hadi, hubby and I reached the sports school, the place was quite packed with students and parents, siblings and luggage bags and some of them I saw, with pillow, bolsters, teddy bears (girl lah..) - then I told hubby and Hadi, "look.. ada yang sampai bawak bantal semua..".

After the registration and what-not, we proceeded to his room.
His room is actually not bad at all, shoe rack, cupboard, bed with nice thick spring mattress, study table, book racks, ample storage area, a window with a nice view and window ledge on the inside, so wide, you can sit there and read a book while looking out the window. Very nice.

His room mate, let's call him B, and family was there already. And B's family's maid, was with a pail of water, detergent and towel, wiping his whole area clean, siap dengan mop lagi.
Woah.. i thought.. shutz..I didn't even think of THAT (not pasal bawak maid - but pasal bawak kain to wipe his area).

OK.. now.. what do we do first. Luckily, Hadi got a few face towels for golf. So we used one to wet it and I started wiping his study table and book racks and arranged the school books.

Then we checked the cupboard - found 2 sets of bedsheet + pillow cover. I spread his green bedsheet, which reminds me of some hospital bedsheet cover. Suddenly, I noticed kat sebelah, B's maid was spreading a nice dark brown coloured bedsheet, with matching bolster and TWO pillows. Eh?

"Is that the school's one or your own (referring to the nice bedsheet)?" I asked the mother.

"Oh, our own. Can use your own one."

"Ooooooooooooooooh..I see." alaaaaaa kesiannyer anak aku.

Then I looked for the pillow. Hubby checked again in the cupboard - not there. Then B's mother said, "Pillow, they don't provide. Must bring your own."

WHAT?!?!?! "Ha? serious??.. we didn't know." shutz again. What we DO know now, is that we are REALLY REALLY under prepared. No pillow, no bolster, no nice bedsheet, no bookends, no.... and meanwhile, B's maid has already hanged all his clothes on the hangers nicely in the cupboard. On B's desk, there's a tissue box, stationary tray, calendar.... and Hadi has no hangers, no calendar, no tissue box, no pictures, no pen holder, no hooks to hang stuff. The wall beside his bed is a bit dirty. And NOW I am really distressed.

Apparently, B's elder brother has just graduated from SSS. No wonder the parents were ALL prepared.

"Ok.. tak boleh jadi. I want to go back NOW and get some stuff and buy some stuff and come back here to finish up his room." I told hubby. I asked Hadi, if there is anything I can bring from home that would make him feel like home there. "My blanket", he said. OK.

So we left Hadi, who looked a bit sad, for a while - more like 2-3 hours. I called my father, and asked if he would like to come see Hadi's room, and surprise Hadi. He was already at my place and wanted to go.

So at home, I got a couple of pictures, calendar, alarm clock (didn't remember that also, just now), hooks, a tidbit container, Hadi's blanket and his grandfather. Then we headed to Causeway Point and bought a pillow, bolster, a rug, bookends, hangers, a STORY BOOK - i forgot about what he may do during his free time..no internet, no TV (except for in their recreation room). Oh, and I also bought 4 sheets of very big coloured paper to paste on his wall, to cover the dirty wall a bit, and make it more livelier.

By the time we reached his school again, it was nearly 8pm. Luckily, parents were still allowed in the room till 10 pm that first night, although, when we arrived, there were no more parents in the rooms. Hadi was very happy to see his grandfather, Nadhrah and Eema who came along also.

I started to work on Hadi's room, arranging and putting all those stuff we brought and bought. Then, I told him what to do - how to hang his towel straight, how NOT to chuck his clothes, but hang it etc etc etc.. By the time we're all done, it was about 9pm already.

I didn't get the new bed sheets and pen holder - I figured, maybe we can go out shopping (oops.. i told myself no shopping this month - but in this case it's for a valid reason)..this weekend, and he can choose his own. I told him that, he agreed.

I asked him how he felt about the room now..if it's more cosy, more equipped? He said, "Yes! cosy, and a bit like home". I can't tell you, how relieved I felt then.




And when we left him, he was all smiles. His friends were already bugging him to play some game with them.

Phew!.. masyaAllah.. what an experience. But it was fun!!

I wish I had a chance to experience boarding school, in a nice boarding school like SSS. But then, even if they HAD SSS back then, I wouldn't have gone in, cause I'm not into sports in the first place. Hah.

Oh well.. Alhamdulillah...in the end, it all went well.

With Hadi, not at home during weekdays, I should be able to spend more time on the girl's academic and ukhrawi progress, at night. I hope. I need to set up a new routine. And the girls need to be in bed 930pm every school night.

I'm looking forward to a new routines in 2008 and perhaps, to more changes. We also look forward to weekends, much more than we did before.