Tantapik goes to Singapore

IrfanSyafik and I are joining a school trip to Singapore for two days.

As usual, I don’t feel excited counting the days down. I have never been to Singapore before, except a few times transit at the Changi Airport.

And now. I am at Singapore again, with IrfanSyafik.

I had a short nap last night, as I was doing the last minute packing. I am the one who doesn’t believe in early packing because one hour before leaving the house, I will always check again in and out the baggage. Since this is a two-day trip, I don’t put much time and effort completing the checklist given by the coordinating teacher.

Abah sends us to school as early as 2.45 in the morning. Lots of people already there but some are still on their way. When everybody is there,  Ustaz says a prayer for a safe journey to and fro. The bus leaves at 3.20 in the morning. We reach LCCT, and stay in a group. Despite their sleepiness, the kids look so inpatient to be on board as this is the very first time for almost all of them, and some of the teachers as well. IrfanSyafik sees McDonald and asks for iced cream. We leave the group and go to McDonald. I buy a set of fillet-o-fish. IrfanSyafik is okay when the cashier told him there is no iced cream in service. We go back to our group and I ask IrfanSyafik to have his breakfast before we enter the gate. Unfortunately, IrfanSyafik only wants the fries! We go back to the McDonald, another minutes of queue, and only to find that they don’t have the fries at that point of time., but instead they replace it with hashbrown, which IrfanSyafik never take before. IrfanSyafik starts to sulk. *my insanity level raises up to orange*. Then I drag him to Marry Brown, and thank god they sell fries. There goes IrfanSyafik ’s smile. *and mine too*

                                                                                                                                                                   

The boarding passes are distributed to the group members and the collected passports returned for individual boarding. And now, we are heading to the gate and to Air Asia plane.

So much for the first-timers, the kids are so excited when the flight goes sky high. They even shouting during the take-off. I feel like we are the only passengers inside. This is not the first time for IrfanSyafik , but this is the first time he behave in air plane. He buckles the seatbelt and let the window opens, and never stand on the seat during the one hour journey. Good boy IrfanSyafik.

We landed safely at Changi Airport. The sun rises. We passed the immigration checking and walk our way to a meeting point where we meet our designated tourist guide of the day. We have our bus ready and have breakfast at Kg Glam for a plate of nasi lemak and a glass of tea. We cannot ask for more as this is under the budget. So if you need a hot coco instead of the caffeine, you may ask the seller but it will be at your own cost. In kg Glam, there is a royal malay palace, but we can only view from distance. It starts to drizzle. But it is okay for me as days before, the weather was very hot in Seremban.

We then heading to the place of the ultimate destination of the trip – Universal Studios. The bus stops at the underground bus bay. There are so many buses and coaches arriving as early as 10 in the morning. Those busses can only drop passengers off and must leave the place for another incoming busses. After about a hundred metres walking, we then get an escalator to get on to surface. In front of our very own eyes : UNIVERSAL STUDIOS SINGAPORE. Some are happy to see the sun, some are happy for at last safely reached the destination after the car-bus-plane-bus journey, some are happy to reach there after a lot of effort put on the working papers and hassle dealing with the travel agent (I heard Cikgu Erma shouts ‘at last!’), some are happy because they see their friends are happy.

We get our tickets printed. Queue up towards the entrance and get together in a small sub-group determined earlier. I get myself a pram for 10SD. I anticipate IrfanSyafik will be asking me to carry him, and that he will get asleep halfway through the park. 10SD is worthwhile, to exchange with the tiredness, irritated, sour face, and the fun I am going to missed for the day. The tourist guide told us while on the bus, to experience the park anti-cloclwise, which is, follow the right path. The right path will leads us to attractions better than the left path. Okay, now I understand, when you go anti-clockwise, you shall see a lots of people, a lot more compare to the the other side of the park. Let me tell you what the park has to offers you clockwise : 3D Movies from Transformers, Cylon or Human Rollercoaster from BattlestarGalactica, another rollercoaster from The Mummy, raft adventures from Jurassic Park, 4D Movies from Shrek of Far Far Away, low-adrenalin rollercoaster from Madagascar. Along with the mentioned anchor attraction, there are also some small scale attraction in some section, and some live-show from real characters from the movies. We managed to watch Sesame Street Show and Madagascar Dancing Show. The penguins are super cute!

Roller Coaster? YES!. The last time I get my adrenaline rushed was during the Solero Shots in Genting Highland. Since then, I’ve never get into any kind of test-your-guts thingy, due to health constraint, and the fact that we don’t choose amusement park for a vacation because of small kids we have.

Looking high at the blue and red tracks intercepting each other, I am telling myself that this is going to be fun. I asks around if anybody wants to feel that thrill. The responses I get are negative, until Meerza’s brother answers ‘no problem’. Yeah.. here we go. Meerza, Meerza’s brother and I, we get into the entrance. We cannot be accompanied with any loose belongings. not even shilling in your pocket. Luckily it was still early, so we take about 15 minutes to finally arrive to the end of the queue. My heart starts to doubt. Is it for real, that I am here, ready to be on a roller-coaster with ‘no coaster’?. Yes, this is a no coaster rollercoaster!. You have your seat hold from the top, and your legs are free… hanging on the air! There were two boys and their maid queuing in front of us. The boys have been experiencing the rollercoaster for 7 and 11 times respectively. This time they asked their maid to come along!

Three of us are so lucky to be on the first row. about three minutes (which I feel like forever), we complete the cycle… with myself imbalance… and queasiness… but I have no doubt to be in the line again for another ride… I am telling you that this is a ride of a lifetime! I missed a ride in Six Flags Magic Mountain years ago… but I want to believe that this is equally fun!.

Then I was told that Cikgu Falisa and Cikgu Zul also get onto that rollercoaster. Good Job teachers!. Nothing beats the fun, and that pays off the ticket!

After getting wet in the Jurassic Park raft adventure, it is already past the lunch time, tired, and subgroups become a few more sub-groups. When everybody is queuing to get on the raft, IrfanSyafik is having a time of his own at the dinosaur fountain. He gets his shirt off and tries to get his pants off too. This costs me 9.9SD on a plain black short with small print of Universal Studio. Oh god. Soon after he gets his body temperature low, he agrees to stop and change shirt. We just get aside of the fountain and change. Then, IrfanSyafik doesn’t want to put on his wet shoes. I did bring a spare crocs slipper, but I left it in the bus. And, this costs me another stupid 12.9SD for a plain slipper with Madagascar printed. Oh God Oh God. One hour later he sleeps.

When we split into a few small groups, we made our own ways. As for me and sleeping IrfanSyafik , we watch the Madagascar Dance,  Madagascar movie, I try to wake IrfanSyafik up for rollercoaster but he prefers to continue sleeping. The rest of the attractions are merely for children. We then bump into Umi Nora’s group. I stay with them. I ask Lynn’s mother if they want to enter the Transformer, but she replied “no, I don’t want to enter anything else!”. Lynn gives her mother a very hard time. She sometime naughtily pinch or slap IrfanSyafik for no reason.

We meet each other again near the exit at 5.30. everybody is so damn tired and hungry. Only some of us had our lunch. So while waiting for the bus to fetch us, some of us go to the Malaysian Food Street just outside the Universal Studio to find some mamak tasteful food. Me, I just finished the Fillet-o-fish I bought at the LCCT before we boarded.

We get on the bus to go to Johor Bahru. I never thought that crossing the border could be that hard. After getting through a two-hour heavy traffic jam, we need to get off the bus with passport and immigration card and walk to the immigration checking at Woodland. Then get on the bus which already checked and waiting at the other side of the immigration checking point. Then again, after crossing the tambak, we need to get off the bus, this time with  ALL our belongings and being check by immigration on Malaysia side. I feel sorry for the kids but they are doing great! They can follow instruction and managed to get through both checkpoints by minimal supervision.

Finally we can see beds and pillows. After shower, we had our dinner - packed food sent to each room, and sleep. The tv, Singapore channel tcs5, is showing the live FA Cup football match between Lion12 and ATM. The matched ended in a draw. We stay in a room of four. I am sharing room with Ustazah, IrfanSyafik and Atilah. Since Athilah sleeps on the comforter on the floor, three of us get some space to share the bed. We get a room with no view. No window. Just when I look at the evacuation map, I found out that our room is right in the middle of the building, surrounded by other rooms. Wow, I call that engineering disaster.

The next morning we wake up fresh, although my right foot cramps once during the sleeping. Athilah wants to have hot Milo for a breakfast so I go down at the hotel’s café. The worker asks me to get a coupon to exchange with breakfast. I tell him I already have my ration and I want to buy something extra. Another worker approaches and asks me to do the same. I asks if they don’t accept cash, but their reply is “if you can pay by coupon why do you want to pay cash”. They don’t understand when I say I already have my guest breakfast ration. I return to the receptionist and get some advice from her. “you just walk across the street and but 3-in-1 sachet. It only costs you rm1. You can get hot water from the water dispenser near the elevator. If you buy from the cafeteria, it will costs you double”. I walk across and buy three sachets of Milo 3-in-1, two boxes of UHT, and buns. Cikgu Aziah segregate the packed breakfast to rooms. We have our breakfast and get ready for second round trip to Singapore.

The bus is ready. And so are we. There are some misunderstanding with the travel agent. We then also having problem to have lunch. I understood that the travel agent should provide us a place for lunch that can occupy the whole group. We ended up having a mcDonald chicken burger and 2 breads for each person for lunch. The mcDonald burger needs to be finished before the border, as any fastfood cannot go across the border. (Actually, I successfully did this twice!)

We are then have a bus ride tour around Singapore. We go along Woodlands, Toa Payoh/Paya Lebar, Geylang, Tanjung Katong, Formula 1 Circuit, Jln Arab, Singapore City and to Changi Airport. In Singapore City we drop by the 1Billon dollar Botanical Garden. This garden is self-fertelized using composed leaves from the same garden. And we complete our trip by stopping by the Merlion. From the Merlion site, we can see all significant landmarks of Singapore City - the Marina Bay, the Durian Art Museum, and the Singapore Flyer.

We reached Changi Airport and ready to go home. But the group split into three group of different flights. My flight will be departing at 11 pm, the latest among the three. In the same group of mine, we have 2 mothers, 5 teachers and the rest are kids that makes up 19 of us. And we have the biggest number of people in our group. I dont mind being in the last group though I heard some complaint from other parents. As for me, either way we still need to wait until all of us reached LCCT to take the bus to go back to Seremban. Thinking of that, I would prefer to wait in the International Airport of Changi rather than in LCCT. There are so many things to do, so many things to see and so many places to see. The toilets are so much cleaner.
I was running out of Singapore cash and the Dunkin' Donuts did not accept American Express when Guru Besar offers me help by exchanging her dollar with some rm of mine.

We have dinner, take a walk, and then go to the gate, and on the plane. We safely reach LCCT 10 minutes before midnight. We reach school almost 2 am.

For this kind of program, we, the participants, just need to follow without asking too much and never ever be selfish.
It is a good trip. I must congratulate the teachers for their dream, effort and success. 46 people for an international trip. 46 is a large number. And it is larger than you could imagine when half of it are kids with special needs.

Hari Down Syndrome Sedunia

Hari ni Hari Down Syndrome sedunia.

Kenapa 21/3? Sebab ciri ciri Down Syndrome(DS) ialah terdapat lebihan (extra) pada kromosom ke 21nya. Orang normal ada 2. orang DS ada 3.  

Maka tarikh 21 haribulan 3 dipilih, sebab takde 3 haribulan 21.

Pada 25 October 2004, saya telah melahirkan Irfansyafik (bukan nama sebenar*.. HAHA) di Hospital Seremban (bukan nama sebenar jugak**. HAHA).

Pegawai Perubatan bertugas mengesahkan anak lelaki saya mempunyai DS. Masa itu muka saya selamba saja. Terus doctor itu tanya “Puan tahu tak DS tu apa?”. “tau”.

Saya tiada apa-apa perasaan pada masa itu, lainlah kalau doctor tu bagitahu saya anak saya tak bernafas ke.

Masa di wad, ada seorang jururawat datang mendukung  anak saya.

“doctor ada bagitu pasal baby ni?”

“ada”

“ada keturunan ke?”

“takde” (mana la saya tahu)

“nak jaga ke budak ni?”

“ye lah. kenapa?”

“biasanya orang hantar rumah kebajikan”

Entahlah. Setahu saya DS bukan penyakit. Bukan terencat. Bukan takleh jalan. Bukan sawan. Bukan tak tentu pasal kacau orang.

Yang saya pasti, diorang ni IQ rendah. Iaitu, takleh nak pikir peringkat tinggi.

Jadi buat apa saya letak dia kat Rumah Kebajikan pulak. Banyak lagi bayi yang lebih perlu untuk dihantar ke situ.

*citer sikit ~ bagaimana saya buleh tahu pasal DS nih?

Masa tinggal di asrama (terchenta) dulu, hari jumaat matinee, sebelum citer Hindustan, ada satu citer bersiri ni. Tajuk dia “Life Goes On”. Kisah keluarga. (kalau korang perasan, zaman takde astro dulu, citer kat tv banyak yang kekeluargaan. Memupuk nilai nilai murni sesame kawan. Malahan sitcom pun sitcom keluarga.).

Dalam citer LGO tu, ada satu anak dia nama Corky yang ada DS. Pergi la google pasal citer ni.

Masa dalam pantang, saya layari internet untuk fahami situasi saya. apa perlu saya buat. Bagaimana nak ikuti perkembangan anak saya.

Saya dapati irfansyafik memiliki hampir semua ciri-ciri DS. Batang hidung rata. Ibu jari kaki dengan jari sebelahnya sangat berjarak. Jari kelingking hanya dua patah. Nistagmus. Dan lidah yang suka terkeluar (protruding).

Tapi irfansyafik sangat comel. Dia sangat putih dan kulitnya bagai telur dikupas. Memang ini kali pertama saya melihat kulit macam telur dikupas.

Irfansyafik perlu ke hospital pakar sebulan sekali. Suatu hari dokter Bee serahkan borang Kiwanis. Sewaktu berusia 7 bulan, irfansyafiq pun memulakan sessi pembelajaran di Kiwanis DS Foundation Center (KDSF), SBN. Sepatutnya hanya DS setahun ke atas diterima masuk. Tapi ada kekosongan dan perlukan duit, irfansyafik dapat masuk.

Di KDSF saya berjumpa ramai ibu bapa dari pelbagai latarbelakang. Cikgu-cikgu pun baik baik. Nama mereka ialah Cikgu Iris, cikgu Siti dan cikgu Shidah. Mereka mengajar motorskill kasar dan halus. Tapi ada seorang lagi cikgu yang irfansyafik paling suka dan ditunggu tunggu. Cikgu Joanne. Cikgu Joanne datang seminggu sekali untuk mengajar muzik dan tarian. Cikgu Joanne suka beri hadiah kepada budak budak. Disamping itu cikgu Joanne juga seksi. Rasa macam bangun tidur terus masuk kereta pergi sekolah.

Sekarang irfan Syafiq sudah lapan tahun. Dia mula berjalan semasa 20 bulan. Menyedut straw pada usia 3 tahun. Sekarang irfansyafiq makan sendiri guna sudu. Pandai salin baju, pakai kasut. Kenal ABC. Belum kenal abc. Hafal gambar dalam 24 siri buku ensiklopedia ‘I Wonder Why’. Suka tengok saluran OASIS. Hafal azan. Tahu cari lagu kegemaran dalam playlist dalam telefon. Computer savvy. Suka ambil gambar. Kalau ambil gambar guna telefon suka setting pada multiple frame(continuous shot). Naik tricycle tapi ada aksi pulas throttle and kaki tukar gear. Suka mandi. Kencing pun mandi. Berak pun mandi. Nasib baik lepas korek hidung tak mandi jugak. Suka jaga adik sampai adik dia bagi penyepak. (siapa ada permainan Barney, lori sampah yang nyanyi “Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere” tu?... irfansyafiq buleh jawab keempat empat soalan Barney dengan betul pada usia 5 tahun. Bila Barney cakap “Super Deed Duper” dia akan cakap “yeay”). Paling sakit telinga kalau dia pegang batang golf kiri kanan dan buat aksi wiper atas lantai, "ujan, ujan". Padahal kat luar rumah panas.

Irfansyafiq bersekolah di Progam Pendidikan Khas Integrasi (PPKI) Sek Keb Tmn Tuanku Jaafar. Satu kelas dengan budak-budak lain dari umur 7 hingga 14 tahun. Hanya 3 orang DS. Cikgu cakap pagi irfansyafiq tidur. Pukul 10 bangun bila Cikgu Wan teriak “mi sup!, mi sup!”. Irfansyafiq tahu itu waktu rehat. Bermakna waktu untuk makan.

Irfansyafiq faham bila orang bercakap walaupun dia belum tahu bercakap dengan betul. Yang dia pandai cakap “maashih. A aiviu, mama”. Kalau nak ucap ‘terimasih I love you’ pada orang lain pun dia akan cakap “maashih. A aiviu, mama. Eh!, maashih. A aiviu, abah” ataupun “maashih. A aiviu mama, Eh! Maashih. A aiviu, aaaaa (nganga mulut sambil berfikir) … ape-ape”. ‘ape-ape’ tu kalau dah puas fikir, tapi tak tahu nak sebut nama apa. Contohnya nak ucap terima kasih I love you kepada makcik jaga sekolah yang hampir setiap hari bagi gula-gula atau coklat kepada dia.

Semoga irfansyafiq terus mudah belajar berdikari.

* nama sebenar irfansyafiq ialah Irfan Syafiq
** nama baru Hospital Seremban ialah Hospital Tuanku Jaafar

square jewel shaped bag

My square bags.

Jahit Beg Pulak?

"seumur hidup aku
ini yang pertama
pintu hati ku diketuk
oleh dua wanita"

Nahh.... I am not going to talk about that song here. But those words keep coming out of my mouth since two days ago. Why? because, all my life, all my sewing life, I finally made a bag on my own.

Actually, I've made a bag when I was in third year undergrade. That was the time I was riding a mountain bike to go  to classes, and also to nearby KFC, Taikaly or the mamak restaurants which I already forgot the name (Ali? Azhar? Azli? Aldrin (this is Dr Robiah's son)). That bag was a very simple bag. I used the leftover cross-stitch fabric in rectangular shape, ratio of X:Y is 1:3. So that when I fold it into 2, it would just nice for A4 size documents. I stitched both left and right side, and turned it inside out. Then I stitched bagstrap from my old Adidas slingbag. I remember the body of the bag is white and the strap is purple. As simple as that. No magnetic button, no velcro, no zipper... and no ribbon embroidery whatsoever on the body. I even hardly keep myself from putting applique of GRnR, Pearl Jam, Nirvana (yes, all those 'precious' little things i got from Kerrang!!!! megazine). No handphone pocket inside (ha ha... those were the time when people bring Pua Chu Kang handphone a.k.a tumbler, and not many people are afford of having one, especially a not popular student like myself)

And now, after so many years, I made another bag and another bag. Yes, two bags. two bags in three nights.
This is a sew along program initiated in "1 HARI 1 PRODUK" group in the facebook. They paste the link to step-by-step tutorial some times ago, but for some reason, the link was then made private and open only by invitation by the blog owner. Hmmm... :( .
Fortunately someone in the group emailed me her saved document of the tutorial. But I think it is not fair for me to paste the document here and get credits out of it.

Anyhow, I put the pattern so that you can get the idea...

For step-by-step and instruction, you may google "square jewel shaped bag".

My first bag would be......

aku rindukan baju-baju kecil itu

Sudah lebih empat minggu. Dalam hati ini hanya tuhan yang tahu betapa aku menahan kesabaran. Kesabaran melihat kain terbiar di sisi dinding.
Kain itu adalah kain tempahan jiran untuk membuat sarung kerusi. Sampai ke hari ini, tempahan itu belum pernah gagal membuatkan aku rasa bergelora di dalam hati.
Sewaktu tempahan di buat, aku terima kerana aku menduga sudah pasti kainnya jenis Elyza atau seumpamanya. Meleset....

Aku mendapat tahu kain itu dibeli di Nagoya. Kain itu memang tidak menyebelahi aku. berbulu dan berhabuk. tetas. tak cantik dijahit. dan terlalu lembik untuk dibuat sarung kerusi. seolah oleh anda ingin menghasilkan blazer menggunakan kain satin. Tentu hasilnya bukan seperti yang diharapkan, bukan?

Oh Tuhan yang maha pengasih.... berilah aku kesempatan dan kekuatan untuk menghasilkan penyudah kepada bebanan ini. Banyak kain-kain comel yang tergendala di tepi mesin jahit. Mereka menunggu untuk dijadikan sepasang baju......

Tolong doakan aku...

Umi's Flower Girls

" Puan CikAjiTerelll,
anak saya (5 tahun) dan anak sedara saya (9 tahun) akan jadi flower girl. tapi dress flower girl tu ala ala spagheti strap aje kat bahu. Puan tolong buatkan jeket supaya anak-anak dara tu tak seksi sangat. ummm... dress diorang warna putih, pastu ada bunga-bunga hitam kat bahagian bawah... aaa! kat dada pun ada sikit bunga... macam corak batik la..
fabric dia puan cari dan pilih lah sendiri ye. kalau buleh jeket tu base itam la. anak saya tak suka lengan jerut tau.
dan... errr jeket tu nak pakai 28 jan ni. saya harap sangat ni"
[Nota: baca stail Datin Maimon Maharaja Lawak Mega]

I could not imagine the dress that my jackets are going to beautify. And... I never sew for girls above 4 years old! so I could not be sure the size of the 5 years old and the 9 years old girls. Anyhow, despite my fever, I managed to sew the jackets for the flower girls...
My worry is not if they don't like jackets, but rather if they don't fit in the jackets.

tadaaa....
 

[ye ye, aku menjahit baju baju ini seharian dalam keadaan demam. bila demam baru teringat akan harapan Umi ini. Berat tanggungjawab menjadi tukangjahit harapan ni, lebih berat daripada menjadi menantu harapan.. hohooo]



Mama, Give Me Some Flower

Baby Shower / Cukur Jambul / Kenduri Aqiqah.

Whatever the occasion, your little girl is always a princess!

Made of japanese cotton (the brown ribbon on the chestline is also coming all the way from JAPAN!! (thank you Sulastri)). This is a maxi dress which is meant to cover the whole legs, but yes, your baby still need a pair of socks to go with this long dress. :)

I found a beautiful ribbon embroidered baby gown in Sew Beautiful magazine. My baby was 4 months old, my father was getting married, and I thought it was a perfect time and a perfect reason to start my own project.

On the chestline, i put some beads in a straight line, and add a cute baby button just right in the middle. And, of course, the cute button was bought from Craft World SS2 @ Yee Button. 

This dress was made in one night!

[ruffles di bawah baju dihasilkan sepenuhnya menggunakan Brother Overlocker 3034D. cool!]

Rose-hearted Zarina

I sew simple dress for a friend of mine. This is for 3 her three years old daughter.

On the olive ribbon on the chestline, I folded a biege ribbon to form a rose.

[oh, sungguh siksa membuat tali butang itu.... saiz setelah siap ialah kurang dari 2/8 inchi]