Bidding Farewell to Year 2011...in a high note!

Ok, so here we are now 1 day shy away from bidding farewell to year 2011 and, welcoming the end of the world!!! OMG!!! Imagine yourself having only 1 more year to live, and what will you do? Spent all the money? Eat all the food you always wanted to and throw away your diet? Or, just live as if it is just another normal year?

Let's not now debate if this prophecy is going to come true because if it comes, it comes. Anyways we will not be able to foretell the future so why sweat the little things right?

Instead, i think now is a great time for us to bid farewell to year 2011 with a great smile and count all the blessings we achieved. Hm.... let me see what i have been blessed thus far...

- First and foremost, both my best buddies got preggo and has / will have a healthy baby boy! Yippie!!!

- i managed to pass the year without going insane in Algeria (Well done me!)

- Bros finally bought me a present and i am loving it so far!

- Finally managed to meet up with some girls after 2 long years.

- Someone in my family is no longer a singleton and he is madly in love so far..

- Additional family member, a princess, into our family..

- Everyone is in their pink of health and i am really really grateful for this..

- Oh ya not to mention Cofi is still eating, sleeping and shitting well..

- Many many newly weds...Congratulations everyone!

- I got to travel a little bit and added lovely memories for myself..

- Got to know some lovely people in Algeria..

- I am being loved very much by the two cute Japanese girls..

- Learned to cook a fair bit, especially in the Japanese department!

- And the most important one is, I am back in KL for CNY! Isn't life great??? *HUGE SMILE*

So there's my list. I can't deny. I think life really treats me well. May the year 2012 brings me the same good fortunes and blessings! Happy new year everyone and may the year 2012 treats you well too! Remember to count your blessings!

The Iphone Craze

Iphone 4s is finally in Malaysia! Weeee!!!

I am currently using the very dinosaur version, the Iphone 1. While it was so cool to have the Iphone 1 a couple of years ago, it is now however an embarrassment to be seen in one! I think others will think that i am some nuts job that still lived in the stone age while seeing me using the Iphone 1!

 Why?? Well because KC's staff wanted to buy an Iphone 3 as a surprise gift for his wife about 9 months ago. Being Algeria, of course it will be difficult to get one! To get from other European countries are just way too expensive and there is just no supply in Algeria at all.

So all eyes turned to my Iphone 3, the one which i was using before i was being forced going back to the grandma Iphone 1. So after much "debate" with KC, i gave in and he sold it to his staff. After all i thought that i am in Algeria most of the time, there is really not much chances for me to use my phone to chat, not to mention to bring it out in public to use. Hence it was sold and i am officially back to stone age.

Ok back to Iphone 4. There are always rumors that the Iphone 4s will be out in Malaysia by end of the year but nothing was solid ever. Anyways i set my mind to it of getting one when i get back to KL. The good news is, after much cajoling  towards my brothers, they have agreed to buy me one!

So i quickly registered with Maxis and today at 12am midnight in KL, they were supposed to be at KLCC to register and buy the iphone. They were there since 9pm and started the whole process of registering for a contract, paying and waiting patiently for their turns to get their phones.

All the time while they were there, they gave me real time updates and was teasing me with photos of the phone. I was excited and anxious the whole time! I was thinking and praying to myself that hopefully nothing misfortune will happened that will resulted in me not getting the phone! I can't take that!

Finally, at about 3am KL time, my brother whatsapp-ed me to tell me the good news i was waiting for! I have my phone!!!!

Yeah, new toy to play with when i get back! Hm.... i wonder what questions should i ask Siri?? Perhaps the same questions "I Love You" as per what my lovely brother, Bryan asked????

Freedom (Almost)

Right after my overdosed last week, i fell sick. Migraine decided to pay its visit to me which lasted for 2 days. Phew! I am so glad that it is over now.

After that, it was the arrival of my dad. I thought i will be busy but surprisingly i wasn't. It turned out that he has a lot of dinner functions during that few days together with KC. Hence i was home alone all the time!

My dad left after 2 days and KC was still busy with his work, even over the weekend. So again, i was home alone and had nothing to do.

Today, my dad is back again but again they will have a lot of luncheons and dinners to attend to. I am home alone again!

Never thought that the last few days before i head back to KL will be such a breeze! 7 days more to go!!!!

There are just so much that i want to do....salon, shopping, ban mee, starbucks mocha caramel, COFI, COFI, COFI .....i just cant wait!!!!

Overdosed?

You know how it is like when you complained that life is too bored and there is nothing much to do? Well i think i am an expert when it comes to this department. After all, life in Algeria is really simple and really nothing much to do, literally.

One of the Malaysian expatriate has decided to go back to KL for good and he decided to make a final trip here in Algeria. This time around, his wife has decided to come along just to verify that Algeria is really a country that has nothing much. I guess she is not all surprised by the fact that it is really nothing much here.

So for the first day of her arrival, there was nothing much to do except to just saying hello and bye. The next day, together with Miho, the girls and her, we had some chatting time that lasted for more than 4 hours. To be honest, chatting for me is good if it is maximum length is within 2 hours. After that, my mind begins to shut off, my lips dried themselves as a protest of talking, and my body also shut down and i feel death tired! So when the chit chat session ended because she had to get ready for dinner later ( secretly i was happy!), i had to quickly prepared dinner and by the time i have time to settle down for myself, it was near to midnight. I was death tired!!!

Today, it was escalated! The moment i opened my eyes, i was told there will be a luncheon at an Italian restaurant in hotel Hilton. Not a really good start for the day ain't it? So i quickly gulp down my morning coffee and headed to the hotel. The thing with the Europeans are that they really know how to take time to savor their food. Unlike us Chineses who will just swallow food within minutes, the luncheon lasted from 130pm to 330pm! That was really looooooooong!!!!!

Then it was bringing them to groceries shopping, meat and vegetables shopping and before we even headed home, the phone rang! It seems that KC had also invited another group of friends for some gaming session. It was 5pm when the phone rang!

So again quickly, i have to prepare for dinner, chick kut teh, for the couple (hence the previous meat and vegetable shopping) and at the same time have to take care of the gaming group too! It was cook, cook, cook, and entertaining the gaming group for their needs of food and etc......

After that it was time to get dinner ready as well as getting the liquor ready too! And finally, now after a good shower, at 10.30pm, i am able to do a little gaming myself and wind down. This is not over yet though because the gaming group is still outside gaming and i still have to clean up later.......

So i guess i am having a "too-much-happenings" overdose now! Just too much! Oh ya did i mention i have to go for a city tour tomorrow follow by a dinner session too since the couple will be leaving the morning after! This is just way too much!!!!

BUT, well it is only normal that when there are grumbling, there is always a BUT. For my case, although it was a day of overdoses, BUT i am glad that KC is having hell a fun time now gaming. I am just glad that he is having lots of fun and laughters in Algiers! Guess all is worth it eh?

Counting Down...Again

You how a day can be unbearable when you are anticipating something or someone on a particular day?

That is exactly how i am feeling now!

That is because finally i have set myself a date to travel back to my beloved BOLEH land! It is  DEC 18!!!!!

The moment i knew which date i will be leaving here for my BOLEH land, suddenly, the minutes started to tick off a little slower than before. Perhaps now it takes double the seconds just to pass 1 minute! hahaha i know i am being crazy here but that is exactly how i am feeling.

2 more weeks and i will be able to go back to meet my darling Cofi, not to mention having my favorite pan mee, nasi lemak, prawn mee, ipoh white coffee..... and thinking about them already making me drool!



More tomorrow!

Les Petits Cadeaux Dan La Vie

KC was away for business trip for about 5 days a week ago. I was getting tired of packing and since the weather is cooling, i opted to stay home instead.

Can you imagine being alone in the house for 5 days? 5 long days without any interaction with any other human being except myself? To think of it already freaks me out! Well.....i still did stay home at the end. The only thing i secretly hope was that i will not turn myself into a nut job at the end of the week.

But then again life works in a funny way. It will always brings you something unexpected. Sometimes it is like a cute gift that you will savor but sometimes it will just bring you straight to hell. This time around, i got lucky because life brought me some little boxes of chocolate, at different days. They are small enough for me to be happy but not too much to make me drown.

The few days when KC was not around, i spent my days watching Sex and the City, all from season 1 to 6. I know i am way too long overdue but i never had the excitement to watch it! This time i am glad i did. Watching the drama brought back so much fond memories of myself. Sometimes i could even see myself going through what some of the characters were going through in the drama. It was like "oooh...that was so me!", "oooh..... i been through that!" And i finished all 6 seasons! So one more thing to cross from my to do list.

Let's talk about the "gift" from life. Since the hubbies are not around, we decided to have girls night only by having shabu-shabu + bbq. So 4 girls decided to just bring out whatever we had in the fridge and threw ourselves a very nice dinner.

It was fun for all of us. It was even more fun for Yu-chan. She was 3 when i got the honor to take away here shabu-shabu "virginity"! Hahah it was her very first time to have shabu-shabu and she was thrilled by the whole idea. Her eyes grew big with excitement when she saw the soup boiling together with all the food she loves. As for Sat-chan, she was just so happy with the whole night and so much more in love with me. For the first time, she came to me, gave me a big hug and told me that she loves me! hahaha and i even got a kiss from Yu-chan too. So i guess i was the big winner here.

A simple dinner turned into a good 4 hours spent eating and us (the big girls) chatting. By the time it ended it was already time for bed. So there you go, one day gone meaning one day nearer from the day KC will be back.

The next day i spent my time again watching tv and some times having tea with the girls too. It turn out that the day that the hubbies was due to be back was our very birthday for Yu-chan. So again i got this life "gift" to spend the afternoon with them celebrating her birthday. Nothing fancy. They baked their own fruit cake and i brought some chocolates as add ons. Plus, i get to be the photographer too!

By the time we finished with the birthday celebrations, it was only hours aways when the hubbies came back with goodies. For them, the little ones get to have presents and most importantly japanese tit bits. For us big girls, we got our hubbies, huge hugs and of course some pressies too.

There, my gifts from life.

Fork! Fark!

Let's face the reality. When it comes to keeping a diary like the old times or keeping a blog like now, it started off hot and consistent until one day we decided to skip a day. A day turned to a week, followed by a month and then it was indefinitely.

BUT.... the day when we feel like hell on earth, will be day that we remember about our little diary or blog again. I guess today is my day.

Of course the percentage of us writing something happy versus something angry/sad/frustrated/disappointed is something like 20:80 and today i fall into the 80%.

I am pissed / angry / disappointed all rushing to me at the same time!

I just got ditch by a long time friend! And this is a second ditching too! To add salt to the wound, she was the one who decided that our friendship is cheaper than dirt the last time she decided to ditch me over lunch. When i demanded a reason why, she simply just told me she never thought of calling me before hand to tell me that she couldn't make it. Oh well, i was really pissed! I mean who would not?

After a long time of cold war, i decided to just look into the good times we had and took the first step to contact her. Anyways she was celebrating something nice and i wanted to just take this chance to say hi and congratulate her.

It was a mistake! All the while when i thought she might feel remorse over what she had done to me, in reality, she doesn't give a shit. Her response to my first step was cold. Can you believe it????

What makes it worst is after this cold treatment, i still went all the way to try to make contact with her and even told her that we should chat. And she said yes, telling me that she will. That was 24 hours ago. There she is, saying things that she didn't meant to keep up with. Here i am still waiting for her to show up and trying really hard to suppress my angers. Deep down i knew that she doesn't give a shit to our friendship and yet i am still trying to convince myself that she is busy. How much more evidences do i need before i am convinced that she just doesn't give a shit about our friendship?

Damn! Wake up you fool! Fark your sadness and move on!

And i thought I was Through

I had been bugged by friends to post more often. Although i always promised that i will, but somehow i never really like the idea. After a while, i have even forgotten that i have a blog myself.

I never knew why i lost the desire or interest to continue my blog, until today.

Now i know the answer.

It seems that i wanted to run away from the sad incident of loosing something precious. I wanted to stay away from starring at the laptop and reading my last blog again, the blog about Bubu.

I thought i was through with the pain but the reality is that i have not.

Reading the comments from my friends reminded me of Bubu and it teared me again to. And the sorrows in me erupted again. But i knew that this phase will passed. I hope that this will be the last time i am crying over Bubu.

The next time, whenever i revisit the post or am reminded of Bubu again, it will only be a huge smile on my face and nothing else.

Afterall, now i know Bubu will be friends with Cash-san or perhaps Milk too.

Love you Bubu.

All Dogs Go To Heaven

Besides Cofi, there is another dog in our house. Bubu is a mixed pit bull and is infamous in our neighborhood for his desires in fighting and biting dogs.

A few weeks ago he went from a strong dog to a very thinned-to-its-bones dog. Since he has just recovered from heart worm, no one really take notice of the shedding pounds. A week earlier, we bought him to the vet and he was diagnosed with fatal liver cancers. We were all shocked.

Though the vet recommended us to put him to sleep because he could no longer performs his normal activities properly such as eating, drinking or pooping, we could not do it and decided to just bring him home. For us, Bubu has been with us for the last 12 years. And Chinese always believes that when a soul would leave a body, the best place to ascend to heaven is from the house which he/she has been living in.

Initially when Bubu came back, he got better and began to eat and drink normally, though lack the energy to even stand up. We were happy. But after that his condition began to deteriot  and he was suffering. Due to our selfishness to keep him alive, he had to suffer. He could no longer control his poops or pees and he could not eat and drink anymore.

At the end, mum and I knew that we could no longer be so selfish and decided that it is time to put him to sleep. It was supposed to be today.

This morning however Bubu decided that he would want to leave us at his own pace. He left us some time midnight yesterday. To be honest, i was relieved for him. I think finally he no longer need to suffers anymore. I no longer is as emotional as when i first knew about his cancer.

Yesterday was Wesak Day. It was the birthday of the Buddha. Yesterday night before mum went to bed, she told Bubu that it was his time to go to heaven and asked him no to wake up anymore. She said that she also did talk to Jesus to take Bubu to heaven.

I am not a Buddhist or Christian. But for this instant, i would want to believe that either Buddha or Jesus has taken Bubu together with them when they went back to heaven yesterday. I want to believe that Bubu is now at a happy state, sitting beside either of them.

I believe that Bubu is in heaven because Disney once told me that all dogs go to heaven.

Dear Bubu, thanks for being with us and protecting us for the past 12 years. Though you were very mischievous and notorious for your liking in attacking neighbours' dogs, though you have cost us more than an arm and a leg all these year, we are glad to have you with us and you will always be missed. Love you forever. Hope you are resting in peace and that heaven is full of all the food you loved.

被吞没的幸福

曾经， 有人对我说， 他想一口气地把我吞进肚子里， 那样我便会一辈子属于他。 也因为只有那样， 他才能真正地让我知道他对我的爱有多深。

当时的我真的不理解那种感觉， 更别说能接受“想把我吃进肚子里”的想法。年轻的我听到了只觉得这还挺可怕！

然而，如今我终于明白那是一种什么样的想法， 那是一种如何深的爱。

坦白说，我也觉得我对我狗狗的爱已经过分的溺爱。对于狗狗，我已把她当成我的小孩般地去溺爱。看着她，虽然她以经趟在我身旁，我依然有一种“失去”的感觉。而那种感觉唯一能被填补的方法也只有是把狗狗吞进肚子里。感觉就好像只有把她吞了，我才能100％地拥有她。只有那样我才能好好的保护，爱着她。也只有这样我才不会失去她。

怎么看，这种痴情与爱也还是挺可怕。幸好我还不到为爱而犯罪的心态。也还好我的溺爱也只限于对我的狗狗。

但回想曾近有人对我痴爱与溺爱到想把我吞进肚子里的程度，这也让我觉得很骄傲。必竟那是一份100%狂热以及望我的爱呀！而这份爱的特别之处，并非产生与对方曾给予你的付出或能回馈与你的爱， 这份狂热的爱是在你不发觉的情况下，悄悄的滋生并蔓延， 并没有道理及原因。而当你反觉时，那份爱已边的一发不可收拾。

原来，一生中能过分的被溺爱，是一种幸福。

原来，用华语写微博，也只有笨蛋才会做的至我折磨方法！＊擦汗， 还真辛苦＊

Reasons for Skipping Blogging

Not going to lie, hasn't been blogging since i came back from Dubai and the reasons that keep me from blogging are????

- still fighting my fatigues from the Dubai Trip, i guess i am getting old!

- been sleeping more than 12 hours ever since and i even went to bed early!

- been suffering from lightheadedness, i think i am low in sugar and need to take in more chocolates.

- dad is here

- dad is requesting feast with his colleagues and the cookings and cleaning begins

- not really in the mood because i am tired (oops, had i mentioned that already?)

- lazy

- lazy

- and just plain lazy!

There, i blogged!

Land of the Gold...

Am leaving to Dubai in less than 12 hours. Isn't that exciting???

I want to do so much things there, especially camping under the million stars in Sahara desert! I could picture myself riding a camel, sand boarding, lying under the darkest night with the brightest start, and how cold and windy the night is, a night where one goes back to the arms of mother nature and and night to dealt yourself into the many tales of the Arabian nights! Isn't tat exciting?

Well too bad i could only imagine all those. KC will be working and he thinks that it will not be safe for me to follow an overnight trip to the Sahara on my own and i have to agree on that with him. So i guess there will be another time?!

Anyways, i heard that Dubai is the land of gold, the real ones and the fake ones ( the glittering sands) too. Chance to visit the only 7 stars hotel in the world and also the tallest building in the world too! Plus, shopping is aplenty there. The only thing worries me is that i do not have the money to shop. Haha. Anyways, since everything is tax free there, i will be going bag shopping! Yeah, but not for me, just for my friends. So i guess that is me having the experience and the thrills without spending. Sounds great huh?

One thing i am still contemplating if i should bring my lappy along. Will be staying in Hyatt Dubai. It states in their website that there is wired internet but i wonder if it will be free?

Help me out folk! Please!!!!!

Let's Do Madrid Again!

Nope, not going Madrid again, just revisiting it - blogging style.

Is this the recent World Cup trophy??? ( A lady stopped and look upon where i pointed when KC took this picture. So everyone is a "ge boh" by nature!)

Like i mentioned earlier, I will never forget Madrid due to what happened. Besides the unfortunate event of loosing the luggage and the broken camera, we did not really enjoy Madrid because we had walked a little too much. My shoes were too tight and i ended up having blisters and every step i took was like a deep cut and pain to my heart. Poor KC had the same fate too. Maybe we are getting old....

Anyways on the last day of the trip, we decided it was time to take the metro and the public buses to places we wanted because the mentioned of "just a short 10 minutes walk" chilled us to our spines! There are a lot of art galleries in Madrid, one of the must go is the museum where the arts of Van Gor are stored. But, being us, we are not really into arts and sad to say that we do not know how to appreciate them, we decided to go to the Alexander exhibition instead. Yep, Alexander the Great!

It was fun. Too bad we could not take any photos inside. There are even guards in the exhibition to ensure that no one takes any picture.

I should say the bag i was carrying is really heavy but pretty. Thanks to Jessy!

After that we decided to take a short trip to the Real Madrid stadium. Now, before we went there, KC was all slumber about not really wanting to go there and that he was really not that keen. But boy when we reached there, he went crazy snapping pictures of the stadium and the logo over and over again. Sheesh..so much of being humble huh?

Look, here's one fake "real" fan!

Perhaps we were overwhelmed by the incidents the days before. We didnt even bother to take a walk into the Real Madrid museum. Instead, i just took a sneak peek into the stadium.

Peeking beyond the grill...

I love this shot. I felt like a paparazzi using the zoom lens.

Well after that it was lunch of course.He went wild when we reached the Adidas shop where you could get all the Real Madrid merchandises you could imagine! At the end, i ended up having a Real Madrid jersey and he went for the full top and bottom gears, as well as a scarf and even a ashtray. Total spending?? Lots!!! Thank god for the 17% tax refund.

KC with his pork ribs, yummy! (By the way, hat - Mango 12 euro, tee - Hard Rock 28 Euro)

And 5 mini burgers for me too!

It was during lunch that we got to know that our bag was delivered back to the hotel...yada yada.... It turned out that it was a wrong bag and we decided to go back to the airport to settle the mess once and for all. we went back to the airport, got our bag and i felt bored. By the time we reached the hotel, i was exhausted. So the next best thing to do is to just have a simple dinner and off to bed. I guess that is all for Madrid. Not having a blast but it was eventful. 

Flower dispenser machines with real flowers for sale at the airport. I wouldn't mind to get one when i land. They are cheap too, ranging from bottom (mixed bunch) 8 euros to roses and lilies 15 euros.

McDonald's chicken burger with bacon cubes in the bread. This is definitely yummilicious.

One thing though, i will remember that it is in Madrid that we are starting our Hard Rock tees collection. People went crazy in the shop. I think they wanted to buy the whole shop. Seriously, there are more customers at the merchandises shop than the restaurant. The serveurs didnt even bother to ask if we need a table when we pushed open the door. I guess they are used to people just going in for the tess. 

Are we ever gonna get a second one for ourselves? Well that we will know when we visit Dubai next week.

Okay, Shakira loves this...what about you?

Gone For Good?!

Today is the last day of Yasso-san employment with ALJ in Algeria.

He has been here for the last 2 years and all these while that he was here, he never really get used to Algeria. Yasso-san is an Egyptian with a Canadian passport. He has a lovely wife with 2 2 beautiful kids waiting for him in Toronto. Hence ever now and then, he will return to Toronto to spend some good quality family time.

It is true that i have never spoken to a foreigner who really like Algeria, not even Yasso-san. Come to think of it, if someone with almost similar culture could not take Algeria, what about Asians? One thing though, it is ok to grumble sometimes about something but it is not ok when the grumbling is constant. Yasso-san dislike Algeria so much that he even said that if the world is coming to an end and Algeria is the only safe place in the planet earth, he would rather go back to Egypt or Canada and bet his chances on it! Hahahah that extreme.

For me, i have mentioned earlier, when life throws you a lemon, the best way out is to use it to make lemonade. I enjoyed having Yasso-san around sometimes but not all the time. Because whenever i begin to take in what Algeria is offering me, there i would have Yasso-san complaining how bad life is here; reminding me that life is always better some where else. And when that happens too often, life in Algeria becomes unbearable and then you will sink yourself into depression.

In fact, Algeria might not be the best place on earth to be in but it is not the worst place too. For one, it is so near to EU countries that we are able to travel to over the weekend. Algerians might not be as sophisticated as the "city people", but they are always friendly and helpful. When was the last time you had a stranger greeting you with a bright smile on their face while you are buying something from a groceries shop?

So i am sort of glad that Yasso-san is going back for good. I am sure he misses his family a lot. So today, as a token of appreciation for his help during the time we spent, i am throwing him a farewell dinner. I wanted to cook spagetti but KC insisted on bak kut teh again!

Duh! I am not sure what is it with guys and bak kut teh. I am getting so bored even by the idea. Anyways, to amuse myself, i am throwing in some fry bean with ikan bilis and cuttlefish with chili padi. Hope all turns well!

When It Speaks to You

Was listening to this song some time ago while i was training my cuisine skill. I think it was more than half a year or more.

The moment i heard the song, i thought it was speaking to me. The lyrics is very well written painting a very vivid picture. It speak to me because i could simply put myself into it. Somehow, something in the lyric sounded very familiar...i guess somehow something similar would have happend to us in reality..

I however forgot to take note of the name of the song....until one day, during a singing session in KL, i heard of this song again. Coming from the singer then, it added even more meaning to it.... it was surreal....but the song becomes my new love ever since.

繁忙的工作加一把劲来过渡
无聊的交际只管把笑容制造
回家打开一副电脑
模拟找到模拟倾诉模拟很好
从来不知道怎么竟各行各路
从前的一套今天仔细仍照做
夜深粉紫色这外套
模拟起舞模拟拥抱模拟得到

*仍然能拥有梦想跟前途
仍然能拥有自尊跟自豪
仍然明知许多女伴一转身会遇到
为何感到这不算最好
明明从不信天荒跟地老
明明从不会后悔得不到
明明从新掌握去做我总可以做到
为何今晚我不懂如何告别烦恼

浮华掌声里只想一个人赞慕
从难关出发心境可向谁透露
是否悲欢早有定数
何时得到何时失去谁能猜到

Je suis fatiguee beaucoupe!

I am death tired.

Earlier i mentioned that one of KC's colleague will be leaving Algeria for good and his apartment at the 1st floor will be vacant soon.

At the same time, Yokouchi's family is currently staying in a rather run down apartment away from us. The tenancy laws in Algeria is that once the apartment is rented out, the owner will have no say in anything to be done in the apartment. At such, Yokouchi has been having problems in getting the owner to help him fixes repaires and even registering the internet line.

Yuki-chan (age 4) focusing on watching The Little Mermaid.

So this week, i have been inviting Yohouchi's wife and the 2 kids to our house for luncheons. They are so happy with here that they thought of moving over and taking over the 1st floor. The few times that the kids were here, the youngest one even cried and refused to leave because she loves it here so much. At the end, we had to bride her with ice-cream.

Miho-san (mother) with her elder daughter, Satsuki-chan (age 6)

Tonight, together with another Malaysian family (who has 2 daughters the same age as Yokouchi's), we went over to Yokouchi's house for dinner so that they could get to know each other and the kids can have new friends to play with. So in a word, i have been throwing luncheons and dinners non-stop for this whole week.

Mr and Mrs Yong, who owns a travel company in Algeria.

Tonight, during the car ride back to Yong's apartment, i was happily seated with the 2 kids. They were happy to have me and were fighting for attentions during the whole ride. When the elder one wanted to sing for me, so did the younger one. They played with me, tickled me, sung for me, told me stories and they were fighting so hard that eventually one of them cried. Ohhh.... i feel so bad for her.

May-An (age 8), a very pretty and smart girl. Speaks excellent English for her age, as well as Arabic and French too.

Even when we reached their house, the elder one was pulling me aside to show me her homework and test results. Of course at the same time the younger one wanted to get involved and spoke and pulled me at the same time too. So i was sandwiched and did tried my best to please them both. When it was time for me to leave, May-An kept hold of my arm and refused to let me go. It took her mother to persuade her and spoke to her for some time. She even told May-An that KC would be very sad without me! hahah reluctantly, she let go before telling me that she likes me a lot.

Mischievous Ci-An (age 4) who loves to mimic her elder sister and pushes her button all the time!

Phew! By the time i reached home, i was so exhausted. It was as though i had spent a day doing hard physical work! I think all my brain juices had been drained out in that short 2 hours! Boy! I thought babies are though but it is the same with kids too! Especially when they speak at the same time and you do not know who to focus at, or even to respond to first!

I really salut mothers out there. Like the Chinese saying, "having a kid is a 100 years job where mothers have to worry for them for at least 99 years."

No wonder motherhood is the toughest job of all! R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!