“Write & Tell Day” - A Post from You……..

OK.  I’ve come up with a new idea. (Ohh..No..!).  I am going to trial a weekly “Write & Tell Day“, whereby you (all bloggers) are invited to write a post on the Topic of the Week by a due date.  On the specified ‘Write & TellDay’, your permalink to your post will be posted on this blog.  That’s it.  It cannot be any easier.  :)

To kick-off this idea,… the first Topic of the Week is >>>>>

Old Wives’ Tales

Yes.  We have all come across ‘Old Wives Tales’.  Often they even appear disguised as ‘rationale explanation’ which stick to us for eons.  Most of us are even guilty of carrying on the tradition of passing the ‘pseudo-knowledge’ on to the next generation.  I know I have been caught out once or twice! 

So, why not share your experience.  Tell us about some of the ‘old wives tales’ that you have heard off or come across.  Have you had any personal experiences with any of them?  Are there any that you believe to be NOT TALES?  Do you know the history of any of these tales and the possible reasons for their existence? 

Your post can be as funny or as serious as you want it to be.  There are no rules about that! :)  There are also no rules about how short or long your post has to be - just have fun with it  .

So, put on your thinking cap and start typing…… I will post the Inaugural “Write & Tell Day” next weekend, so feel free to submit the permalink to your post to me at  spillay19[at]gmail[dot]com by then.  Remember - HAVE FUN WITH THIS!!!

Making a list and checking it twice….

No it is not Christmas yet, but close…. You see, my youngest is turning 7 next Monday, and he had decided early enough that he was going to have a party this year (as he did last year..hmm….).  Anyway, the party will be on 15 June and thus the invitations had to go out by the end of this week.  [I've come to believe that there is a general rule that anything less than 2 weeks notice for a party invitation is impolite... is this true?]

So, in keeping with the promise that any non life-threatening decisions can be made by my children, I allowed V to draw up a list of names of children that he would like to invite to his party.  Ohh…what an interesting process this turned out to be! Of course, V initially said that he wanted to invite ALL his classmates.  I had to step in of course and give him a little lecture on economics and provide him with a budget to work with.  Then the elimination process began. Slowly, V crossed out some names, but he always had a good reason in doing so.  (I was also very surprised and glad to see that there were some girls on the list, unlike last year when he was adamant that NO GIRLS WERE ALLOWED AT HIS PARTY!) 

This morning, before we left for school, I asked V if he wanted me to assist him with handing out the invitations. I was told-off, of course.  Apparently, that’s the most exciting part.  I should have known… I tried to explain to V how he would have to be sensitive when coming across children not on the list while he was going about handing out the invitations.  My words fell on deaf ears, it appeared.  So, I just left it.  I thought to myself - I cannot wrap my children in cotton wool all the time,… and there are going to be some situations that they will have to muddle through themselves.  If there was going to be a disgruntled classmate to deal with - I just have to trust V to be able to handle it his way …..  :)

Photo By: Crystl

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Mother of 10!

I meet many interesting people at the school yard.  I’m referring to the mothers (and occasionally fathers) who are there every morning and evening …. dropping-off their precious ones and picking them up again when the school day is over.  For most of the time, we mothers have lots in common.  But then, there are days when you meet someone truly different…….

I met such a person, for the first time, three years ago.  Her name is Leanne.  I remember that day very clearly as it is etched deeply in my memory.  I had a tiring day at work, running from endless meetings to endless meetings.  By the time I was standing at the classroom exit of my eldest son J (who was at his first year at school then), I was feeling exhausted.  Although I was glad that the work day was over, I was secretly fretting as to how I was going to manage my two sons (aged 5 and 4 then) for the next few hours.  Leanne was standing there too, with her trademark calmness.  We started a casual conversation (for the first time that day).  I remember making a comment to her about how I was coping with the newness of school and that I was wondering if I would ever get used to being a mother of a school-going child.  Her response was very delicate and empathic.  She then started describing her own feelings on that topic to me.  It didn’t take me too long to realise that she had a few more children than I at school.  So I politely asked her how many little ones she had.  Her immediate response was “I’ve got 3 in primary school.”  OK. That seems normal, I thought.  Then she added “I’ve got 4 more in secondary school, one at university and one toddler at home“.  I flipped!! I thought I had heard wrongly and had to ask the question: How many children do you have?  “Nine”, she said.  At that instant, my worries about managing my two little ones just magically disappeared.  Just like that!!!  I think I must have embarrassed myself to me!  (Know how that feels?)

Incidentally, since that first conversation with her, Leanne has had another little one.  Yup - bringing the grand total to 10!! 

I still see Leanne everyday.  My youngest son V and her second youngest daughter are classmates.  Our most recent conversation was about laundry.  Not surprisingly, she says that she has to do it everyday.  And to add to my amazement, she irons almost everything too - even the school track pants of every school going child.   Yes - she never ceases to amaze me.  I truly admire her dedication to her family and find every conversation with her to be inspiring.  I know that she will be one person that I will continue to think of fondly for many more years to come….   

 Photo Source:  Photo Mojo

Following up on blog comments ….. now, something new for you!

Have you ever visited a blog site, left a comment after reading a post and then just completely forgot to go back to follow-up on it?  I have! Many, many times!  And, when I do remember and go back to the post (usually days later), I find that I had missed out on an interesting “conversation” that had been happening right there amongst the other visitors to the site!  Of course there would be no point in adding anything new to the ’that’ conversation thread then as everyone (including the blog owner) had already moved on to the next post.

Well,  this doesn’t have to be the case…. at least for visitors to this site.  You may be interested to note that I have now set up the functionality for my blog readers (and comments leavers )to follow-up on comments via email!  This functionality is powered by Feedburner (which, I’m sure many of you are familiar with). 

All you have to do is, using the appropriate link on the top-left side of my blog (or at the bottom of this post), enter the email address at which you would like to receive the comment updates on.  Then, once a day, you will receive an email with the latest comments (and responses) left at my site.  You don’t have to navigate yourself back to my site and post - it is all there in your inbox.  It is that easy! 

Unsubscribing is easy too - all you have to do is use the link at the bottom of the email and voila - all done!

If you are interested in trying this out, here is the link >>>>>

EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION FOR COMMENTS

PS: If you do try this, don’t forget to tell me what you think!

When Universities Get Greedy

About two weeks ago, I got this phone-call:  The female voice on the other end said she was calling from my former university.  I decided to listen to what she had to say (usually if a call was not from a friend or family member, I quite quickly would cut it short…. especially if it was received past 8pm)  The girl asked me if I had received the letter sent by the Dean.  Hmm…. sounds important, I though while cracking my brain to remember if I had received such a letter.  Thinking that it was ’safer’ to say NO, I did just that.  I asked her to just explain to me over the phone what the important matter was.  Instead she said that she would resend the letter to me and call me back another day.  Fine, I thought.  I was busy anyway.  And that was that.

On Friday just past, I received ‘the’ letter in the post, recognising it immediately from the letterhead.  At the exact moment I picked it up from the postbox, it struck me!  I suddenly remembered receiving a letter from the university two weeks earlier.  The scene played back on my mind - I had opened the envelope and scanned the letter.  As soon as I realised that it was a ‘fund-raising’ matter, I had walked straight to the recycle bin and chucked it.  Now, standing here again with the exact same envelope in my hands, I felt somewhat a little dissapointed.  Did I really think that the Dean was personally seeking me out for something important?  Silly me! 

As I read the letter (properly this time), I was somewhat taken aback.  Here it was, a very, very rich university - one of the best in Australia where students from various parts of the world fall over each other trying to get enrolled - seeking to raise even more money via the alumni!! 

The letter (in part) said that “We have had great success with the fundraising campaign to date but we must plan ahead to ensure the future…….. What is important is that every graduate takes part.  If 1,000 alumni donate $41.67 a month for the next three years this would generate almost $1,500,000 for the School!” . 

$41.67 a month for the next three years!!! Are they kidding me?  In this time of rising oil prices, rice shortages and tightening home budgets - they wanted me to sign up for a ‘long term’ fund raising scheme for their benefit?  …… [Did I mention that this is a very, very rich university?]

Don’t get me wrong.  I am not against donating.  In fact, our family appreciates the importance of being involved in charitable activities and how important this system is for local and international communities.  A lot of what happens in the primary school that the boys go to are based on donation of time and funds.  This is part of life, and we have learnt to appreciate it. But, when a large, rich institution comes knocking on our door for funds - it only strikes me as greed showing its ugly face. 

If I could afford it, wouldn’t I rather make that same donation to a small rural/outback school, where the funds would be used to purchase more pencils, paper or extra fruit for the more deserving school community.  In fact, I believe that such contribution would go even further for the purpose of ‘education’.

On normal days, I am usually very proud to be a graduate from this university - but today, I feel a little shameful by their greed.  **Sigh**

From Malaysia, With Love

Living so far away from the country that I grew up in - what I miss the most is being near to extended family.  We miss out on family weddings, and arrivals of new ‘members’; no spontaneous visits from favourite aunties bearing containers of homemade goodies nor are there regular playdates between our kids and their cousins. 

Therefore for us, the joy of having family visit from Malaysia  is simply immense,… and this week, our family experienced such joy.  The visit by my youngest brother and sis-in-law marked the first visit this year, by family from overseas.  Many little words can describe this wonderful week.  They include: Love, Family, Reminiscence, Fun, Laughter, Auntie, Uncle, Yoga Poses, Vegetarian Food, Sightseeing, Healesville, Gerbera Flower Farm, Alpacas, Photos, School Open Night, Books,.. and many, many more. 

For the next week or so, this family will continue to nourish on the lingering memory of the wonderful week just past.  Then, slowly, we will resume counting-down to the next visit by our Malaysian family members….

*********************************

PS:  For those of you wondering,…. in the photo above, I am the one with the glasses (wearing green) :)  .

I’ll Be Back Soon……

I’m sorry about being “quiet” for the last few days… At the moment, my youngest brother and sis-in-law are visiting us from Malaysia (you may know them from their blog: The Write Path).  I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had a chance to get online much.  I promise, I will be back soon - and will also reply to all your comments from the previous post. 

I wish you all a great week!! 

A Dreadful Scare …… Never Again I Pray

Last Sunday, we went to a party to celebrate a 7 year old’s birthday.  Usually with kids birthday parties, we would just leave our children at the party venue, and pick them up once the party was over.  However, on this occasion, as the birthday boy’s family were family friends of ours, we stayed on. 

Being a boy’s party, there had to be games involved.  So what better place to have a sports party than at an Indoor Stadium (incidentally, my youngest son, V, will also be having a party at the same venue next month).  So, not long after we arrived, the party host invited all the boys into the soccer area in the stadium for a game.  This was my opportunity to mingle with the other adults, so that was what I did.

A few moments later, I watched as my eldest son (8 year old, J) walk out of the soccer area towards me.  He looked as if he had tears in his eyes and I wasn’t at all surprised as J didn’t enjoy sports (unlike V who loves it!).  I thought that he had changed his mind about participating and decided to call it quits.  That was fine with me. 

He walked over to me and said in a quiet voice that he was hit by the soccer ball on his chest and that it hurt  a lot.  As would any mother in that situation, I rubbed his chest, said some comforting words to him and told him that he didn’t have to play soccer if he didn’t want to.  There….. that was all settled now I thought.  We stood there, my arm on his shoulder, watching V and the other young ones play.

All of a sudden, J slumped onto me, mumbling.  I held onto him, asking him what’s wrong.  Then I saw, his head tilt back and his eyes roll backwards.  He had gone limp - his eyes continued to roll.  I couldn’t even hold him, his weight seemed so, so heavy.  He was falling unconscious.  I screamed to hubby who thankfully wasn’t standing too far away.  Hubby ran over and picked him up.  That’s when I saw it…. J was convulsing… eyes still rolled back. 

Hubby ran with J in his arms to the reception area.  No one was there.  We screamed for someone to come quickly.  I am usually a very quiet person by nature, but thinking back as to how I was shouting for help at the top of my voice …. just doesn’t seem real.  Someone did stroll in a  moment later (which felt like eternity, so I cannot really describe how immediate it was).  By then, some of the other adults from the party had gathered around us too.  I held my son on the floor cradling his head on my knee.  He was conscious now but looked very, very weak.  Hubby explained what happened to the Stadium Manager- we wanted to know if we had an emergency in our hands.  The Manager tried to assure us that it wasn’t anything serious and that J should be out playing again with the other kids in no time.  Seriously!  If you had your semi-conscious son in your arms, how is that kind of response going to help!!  The other adults we just as ‘unexperienced’ as us, so they couldn’t really advise us any differently.  We decided we’d let J lie on a sofa for a while and see what happened.

J did gradually, very slowly, gain his energy back.  Not long later, he sat up and after urging him a little, he started walking around at the stadium a little.  His body was very cold for quite some time.  By the end of the hour, he was ‘back to normal’.  But hubby and I - we weren’t.

The scariest thing from this experience was that feeling of helplessness.  I didn’t know what to do.  Hubby didn’t know what to do.  And from what it looked like, most of the adults at the party were just as in-cognisant as hubby and I were.  No one could confidently tell us what was happening and what the best treatment for the situation was.  We were not in control.  And that is a terrible, terrible feeling when your child is having a medical emergency.  

Less than 24 hours later, I had signed up for a one-day training course on First Aid with the Australian Red Cross, which will be held on 26 June.   I will be trained on CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and other key skills to carry out emergency first aid in life threatening injuries and illnesses.  I know that I can never be fully prepared for any emergency, but I pray that with this little bit of extra knowledge and skills, I can help provide an educated response in future emergency situations, be it involving family or not. 

Thank you!

What a marvellous surprise I got this morning - I found that I was awarded a “You Make My Day” award!!!  A big Thank You to Madhuram of Eggless Cooking for this honour.  You have truly made my day today …. and most likely the week too 

And, while we’re on the subject of Thank Yous,… I would like to take this opportunity to give thanks to everyone who has been visiting my blog in the past few months.  When I started blogging in November of last year, I was skeptical on whether or not I would last a few weeks.  As with many of my past ventures, once the novelty of “new-ness” had gone, my interest (in whatever it was) usually diminished as well.  But it hadn’t been this way with my blogging…. and the only reason I can think of that has made it this way is…. YOU!!  Yes you…. the person reading this blog post right now.  Somehow, knowing that you had taken some of your precious time to visit me here and read what I have to say, makes me feel very, very special.  I thank you for this!!!  Also, it is of no surprise that I have made some wonderful friends by blogging too,… which is the biggest privilege I have been bestowed on by this activity.  I just have to say …….”YOU ALL MAKE MY DAY!!!”

Coming back to this award,…. in line with tradition, I would now like to pass this award on to the following bloggers/readers who in their own unique way, make my day !!!

Sanity Found

Shy (I know you don’t have a blog, but I just wanted to say THANK YOU for visiting me everytime you do )

Joy

“You Speak Excellent English!”

Somebody said this to me the other day.  “You speak excellent English!”.  The comment took me by surprise.  It took me a a few moments to let those words sink in.  My silence must have made Tracy feel a little awkward, so she went on to ask me “How long have you been in Australia?”. 

At the time, Tracy and I were sitting on the side bench, watching our children have their swimming class.  We have only known each other for maybe about 6-7 weeks now.  As the weeks passed, our conversations had gotten friendlier (of course), and I guess, it had reached a point where she was comfortable to comment on what must have been on her mind for some time now.

I told her that I had been in living in Australia for the past 10 years. I also added that the first time I stepped foot into this country was even further back in time - as a 19 year old starting university in the beautiful city of Perth, Western Australia (for three glorious years!)  Tracy seemed happy with the answer.  But I was not.  My mind was reeling - Silly girl! Your response made it sound like you only started speaking English when you landed in Australia!,  I scolded myself silently.  So, I had to add a bit more.  I went on to tell Tracy that I had been speaking English ALL MY LIFE.  In fact, I had to shamefully admit to her (as I am now confessing to all of you reading this), that I only spoke English at home when I was growing up.  I could not and still cannot speak Tamil which is my mother tongue. (Shame!).  This response did surprise her a bit!  She then asked in what language I spoke in to my boys at home.  English, of course, I replied.   Tracy looked fascinated.

This whole week, I had been replaying this event again and again in my mind.  Questions after questions keep popping up - Do the general population expect immigrants not to speak good English?  What else is the ‘general’ assumption?  Would Tracy be suprised to know that my family eats more pasta and oven baked food than curry and rice at home?   Will she be shocked if she knew that we had a 5 burner BBQ on the backyard deck?  And that any chance we get, we go on farm holidays? 

I thought, the only way I was going to understand this is if I reversed the situation.  So, I imagined myself to be still living in Malaysia (and speaking fluent Tamil!)  I imagined meeting Tracy in Malaysia, and having a conversation with her in Tamil.  I tried to imagine Tracy telling me that she has spoken Tamil all her life, even as she was growing up in Australia.  But it was hard!!  Somehow, I could not convince myself that, this could ever happen!!

I guess I know now that we all probably judge and make presumptions about each other too quickly.  Generalising and sterotyping should not be the ‘way to go’.  I have learnt my lesson and I am glad that I have made a small change in one other person’s mind about “people from other countries”.  In fact, I am hoping that I can go on making this (little) change in more people  :)  .

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[For the record, I can understand Tamil when my parents speak it to each other (most of the time), but I cannot understand the language when I hear it in a movie or when it is spoken by anyone else].  (I know - NOT ACCEPTABLE!)