Adieu, mid-year hols

As the mid-year hols come to a close, I bid goodbye to my days of idling. Days when I do not have to rush back after work and hasten through dinner to oversee homework and assignments, to plan and prep for the weekly spellings, 听写s and the show & tells. When I can let my mind idle and put my legs up, not needing to worry if I had forgotten to pack his bags or if his pencil case was in order. And most importantly, of the days when I do not need to fret if he had been bullied in school. 

Term two had been one fraught with many difficulties and new realisations. To elaborate briefly, there were instances when S had 'given' his money to someone else and, in his naive explanation, told me that his friend didn't have any 'gold' coins but only had 'grey' ones. When he had his colour pencils vanish into thin air and I came home to realise his pencil box bare with only 2 miserable pencils. He tells me that they were 'stolen', and while I cannot be sure of that, neither am I convinced that his friend had accidentally packed his ruler, eraser and colouring pencils into his own bag. 

And the instance when an unknown student had approached him during recess and snatched his money away, leaving him hungry with only 20c and not enough to buy any food. That afternoon, he came home ravenous from school and promptly gobbled down a whole bowl of rice.  

It puzzled us at first why he was left with so little money, yet he claimed he ate nothing for recess. Upon probing further did we find out the reason. Needless to say, I was incensed. I asked him why he didn't retaliate and say 'no', or inform his fellow students or teachers for help. His sad reply to me then was 'because the teacher said must respect your friends'.

I was heartbroken by his answer. My heart wept for his naivety and helplessness. For his, as well as mine.

Knowing that I had only heard one-sided versions of the stories and even then, it wasn't the whole story since his relating skills were still pretty poor, I explained to his teachers at length that although I didn't want to fingerpoint, I wanted the situation improved. If teachers and parents could work close together, we could better bridge the gaps and intervene sooner when needed. While his teachers were very understanding and acknowledged my concerns, I understand that there is only so much they can achieve. On my part, I will have to monitor and handle whatever situations that arise along the way and feedback to the teachers when necessary. 

In the end, we managed to solve only one of the issues. His colour pencils were never found, and the girl was never identified. These two incidences were subsequently taken on as learning points for S. Since then, we have been emphasizing and reinforcing on how he should behave should such incidents happen in future. I am not sure how he would react should he be 'put to the test'. We can only try and hope. 

I can easily replace the things that he lost, but not the mentality that it is okay to be bullied/taken advantage off/pranked on, and staying silent about it.

And so, my days of rushing, planning, prepping, worrying and fretting begin once again. The cycles of school that parents can never avoid. As I refill his recess money and replace new colour pencils into his pencil case, I gear myself up for the cycles to come. His bag has been packed and is ready for the start of the new term. I only hope that his heart and mind are equally prepared. The month long hol had been a great break, but now it has come to end.

I believe Term 3 holds even more difficulties and obstacles for us to overcome and realise. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't dreading it. It is scary to be expecting unknowns, but come what may, we must struggle and continue pressing on, moving ahead however slow the pace might be. 

So, come on Term 3. Let's do it.

Road travels with little people - Malaysia

Sin - KL - Genting - Sin

Packing for a road trip was much easier then for a flight. Since the boot and empty front passenger seat were to be our store and pantry throughout the journey, that meant that I could pack almost everything I wanted and needed for the trip. While the rest of us were all cramped up together in the back seat, at least that meant more leg room - a relief in the limited confines of car space.

As this was our virgin road trip alone with the kids, we kept it fluid and short. I packed clothings for hot, cold and rainy weather, counted out diapers and formula feeds for Little L, picked out an array of snacks and buns and little packets of milk, filled up 1.5l bottles of extra drinking water, threw in a colouring set, and with a borrowed gps, we were good to go.

As with kids however, every one of the items that I had painstakingly thought to include, were of no importance to them. Afterall, anything that I had packed were of little significance once they had ipads clutched in their tiny arms. Our fault really. But it's become a 'tool' now, one that I am loath to do without. It can keep the kids happy and occupied, and is a great 'motivator' to get them to do what we want. Which usually only mean one thing - sit quietly, so that we can concentrate on getting something else done. Like, deciphering the gps directions when we keep having the words 'route recalculated' flashing on the screen, or becoming squinty-eyed while helping hub spot if the road sign with the really small font 200m away is indeed our correct turn.

There are only so many activities that I can plan and occupy in the many hours while sitting cramped up together in the car. And since my kids are especially sleep resilient, that left me with one less option.  Put me 2 hours in a moving vehicle and off to lala land I go. I don't know how they managed to keep awake 3/4 into the journey before finally nodding off for a total of 45 minutes max. Okay, I digressed. But as you can see, the ipad is really such a wonder. Back to the start of the journey.

We planned to leave our house at a gawd-awful-jam-avoiding time of 6.30 but we managed at 6.45 instead (very good efforts) and cleared the causeway by 8.15am (very, Very good efforts). Shooting down the north south highway at a pretty average speed of 130km/hr, we occupied the next few hours breakfasting in the car, having our buns and snacks, colouring, and of course, playing on the ipad. I was kept very busy opening up little packets of biscuits and crisps, unwrapping sweets, wiping up crumbs and dribbles, preventing drinks from spilling, fillings on the breads from falling, and many other little tasks my ocd could pick out and manage. I was like an octopus with all its eight arms occupied. Time pretty much flew as we were all probably still hyped up on enthusiasm of the trip.

Halfway through, we made a pitstop (can't remember which one) for some food and a much needed toilet break. As with all the stops along the north south highway, the food served was only passable at best and its purpose was to fill up hungry tummies under the bo pian act. Still, kids and adults alike were glad to stretch our legs and backs, and give our bladder some release.

As soon as we were seated at the foodcourt, we were 'attacked' by swarms of flies which insisted on descending relentlessly everywhere around us and scaring the kids (especially L) so much, that we were forced to retreat into Baskin Robbins (next door) after a few quick bites of our mee soto and mee siam. I would have snapped a picture of the avalanch of flies if my hands weren't so busy trying to shoo them away.

The kids, who were relatively happier now that we were away from the flies, somehow weren't able to muster up much appetite for the cold treat. Either the flies had killed off their appetite, or that the excitement of the trip had finally given way to weariness. As we continued on, the second leg of our journey was comparably much more tiring since both energy and enthusiasm had fizzled out.

The kids managed some more half-hearted colouring and snacking, and finally, after 2 hours and a thousand 'Are we there yets?', we arrived at our hotel (Parkroyal, and lucky us to have a free upgrade), checking in around 1pm. The kids did a quick initiation of the luxurious bed, rolling around and jumping on it, and then we headed out for a late lunch and some proper food. To our growling stomachs, we have finally arrived at KL.

Kidzania

The days at KL passed by quickly as we explored the malls around our hotel on Day 1 and Kidzania (the highlight of the trip) on Day 2. I was pretty excited about bringing the kids to Kidzania. Unfortunately, since they didn't know what to expect, they didn't share the same level of excitement as me.

We arrived at Kidzania after a lazy breakfast and by then, it was already packed with kids and adults. Several schools of children were spotted walking around everywhere, and some popular 'occupations' had a long queue snaking round. The fireman for example, had a wait time of about 40mins! It was pretty tricky trying to choose and prioritise which activity we wanted to queue for, as L was too young for most of the occupations and S was only open to a very limited choice. And since I had booked the a.m slot, that meant that we had only till 3pm before the session was over.

We let them have a go at being a police officer first as both ages qualified and they were keen to participate. Even though we were next in line, it was still a good 20mins of standing and waiting in the queue. When it was finally their turn, they were brought into the 'station' and given a 'briefing'. Then they had some fun patroling the 'city' in their oversized uniforms and hats, caught a 'burgler' and even received a warrant card at the end of the activity.

Realising that we were running on limited time after that, Hub and I decided to each bring one child around to save time. S adamantly wanted to have a go at being a car driver but unfortunately, didn't meet the height requirement. My little (would-be) racer was really disappointed at not being able to drive the mini car and rejected all other alternative activities after that. We had to half coax, half coerce him into trying out a few other occupations and after much encouragments, we managed to get him to participate in being a pump attendant, a supermarket shopper and a painter. I was glad to see him having fun and the smile back on his face. "Mommy look! I got money!" he would proudly show me his 'earnings' from each 'job'.

 

L on the otherhand, had her first makeover session at the beauty salon. Since she was too young to be the beautician, she could only participate as the customer instead. Then she went on to become a supermarket cashier, sporting a super cute look in her cashier uniform.

 

After a tiring activity-filled morning of queues and crowds, we left Kidzania close to 3pm for a spot of late lunch. The kids themselves were tired of all the queuing and were starting to ask to go. Looking back, perhaps S and L are too young still to understand the concept of having a job or an ambition. Or maybe they were just overwhelmed by the crowd and the whole place. But overall, I hope the kids had fun trying out the few occupations that hub and I guided them into, gained some knowledge and exposure of having a job, and also the experience of 'earning' their own money. 

Personally, I feel that this experience would better benefit S and L when they are slightly older (and taller), and when they would already have an idea of what they want to be when they grow up. Perhaps we'll plan the next visit in another 2 years.

Kidzania is linked to 'The Curve' - a huge shopping mall, and we spent some time exploring there for awhile before making a detour to Puchong for an errand, and finally heading back to KL for the comfort of our hotel room.

Genting Highlands

The next day we headed for Genting. It was a much awaited trip for me as I have not been there for close to ten years. Although I had been pre-warned over the renovation works going on, we decided to still go ahead with the drive up.

With the gps, it was really pretty easy driving up to Genting Highlands. From KL, the journey only took slightly more than an hour. The roads were wide and nice, and the air was super shiok, although I must admit that the reno works were a real scenery killer.

We spent some time circling the car park choosing a nice, big, not-too-ulu spot to park, and after some navigation at the very noisy, very messy, and very crowded lobby, we finally checked in to First World Hotel (couldn't manage to book the better hotels), for a um, mediocre room. Even though I had booked the second best tier of the rooms available, it was still a far cry from the poshness and comfort of one we stayed the night before. Just as well we were only going to stay one night.

The kids had loads of fun at the indoor playground and arcade. S had a go at the kiddy bumper car as (hopefully) compensation on missing out on the drive at Kidzania, and hub indulged him in the car races at the arcades. The big smile pasted on his face thereafter indicated the level of fun he was having.

On the otherhand, the look of wonder and pride that I caught on L's face on each ride that she dared to attempt alone, like knowing she was a big girl now, was simply heart lifting. My baby girl is growing up so fast. That night, we retired to bed close to midnight, sleepy and spent. It was afterall, the last night of our holiday.

The next morning, after a quick breakfast (included in the hotel coupon) at a very big and messy cafe, we checked out simply by dropping the keycard into a machine. Compared to the check-in process where we had to queue to register, get a queue number and then queue again to check-in, the differences were vastly, for lack of a better word, different.

Reflecting back on the trip as our car slowly wound its way down the highland slopes, I realised that Genting was exactly as I remembered from eons ago - loud, crowded, messy and overwhelming. The only saving grace was the weather, that like a breath of fresh air, rejuvenated and freshened us up.

From Genting, we drove back home non-stop (save for a 15min toilet break) and arrived in home's warm embrace in time for dinner. Perhaps it is really for the better to expand and renovate for a more pleasant experience in future. Till the next time, Genting. I will look forward to seeing you again after your renovation is complete.

It was a lovely road trip with Papa and kids.

Eagerly waiting till the next one.