Medan Kota

My eldest son, Jadon will be sitting for his first primary 1 school examination on 16 November, lasting 4 days. The school, Piaget medan was kind enough to inform us the parents very early on… when I received the notes and the guidelines… I have a rather mixed and confused feeling … part of my little voice is saying…  ‘hai yah… he is ok… not need to worry… his only problem is carelessness..’ … but honestly, another part of my little voice is praying rather aggressively hoping for the best…

I am writing this because… I can’t think what is right or what is wrong any more… you see… raising such worries and concern with any husband… these men replied will be.. ‘don’t worry too much, our child will be alright…’ and when the result is out?.. they start interrogating the wife (instead the son/daughter) of why the result is such and such… and what tuition are the children put on…

for me… I never bothered to ask the dearest daddy… he knows I am the fussy one.. so no matter what he said… the final decision is up to me anyway…… with Jadon.. for all his class tests, his results were always above the 95%… the errors that he made were mostly carelessness… in addition to the fact that he has really bad writing skill… as a mum… what is right?.. should I scold him on his carelessness? but knowing that it is not big deal…? so why should I make his life miserable at such a young age… knowing that getting 100 or 95 or 80 right now will make no difference to his adult life… BUT on the other hand… knowing that he knows and that he should easily scored full marks? … he does deserve some  punishment dont you think?…

so with 2 weeks to the D day… I don’t really know what to do with him… should I choose to grill him?.. gosh… I am definitely jeopadising the mother and son relationship …. which I really don’t want to… but should I choose to do it in moderation form… seeing the end result will not make us very happy… which with Jadon’s personality, he will develop that… ‘it’s ok… my mummy is happy go lucky kind’... coz right now… whenever he came home with the silly mistakes… he will always casually replied me… ‘it’s ok mama… I know the anwser but I didn’t see it properly’….

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I overheard a boy speaking to his mum and dad one day … ‘wo ai makan sausage sama french fries.. papa xu mai ok…’ …. I always thought Singaporean mixing English with Mandarin were bad enough (including myself)… well.. some children in Medan possessed a much better capabilities in mixing about 4 languages to form a sentence…

‘wo ai makan sausage sama french fries… papa xu mai ok?‘

Wo ai = ‘I want’ in Hokkien
Makan = ‘eat’ in Bahasa
Sausage = English
Sama = ‘with’ in Bahasa
French fries = English

Papa = ‘dad’ is universal language
Xu mai = ‘go to buy’ in Mandarin
Ok= universal language

it definitely was interesting to hear… I am not the kind to evesdrop on people’s conversation…. But I couldn’t help but heard it as the boy was saying it out rather loudly and it wasn’t just the boy himself… both mum and dad were forming each conversation sentences in ‘ice kacang’ format too…

our boys… when JD was born… I have decided that… Hubby was gonna speak English to the kids, Me in Mandarin, Nanny in Thai while the maid in Bahasa…. we all did our best… by 6 months, at the age when Jadon began to understand stuff …. we noticed that he looked rather confused… being the first and only child.. whenever both of us and the nanny fussed over him at the same time, …. my gosh.. it sounded so weird… all 3 of us were talking all differently… by about 1y.o.. he was picking up the English more… and was definitely confused… I check with doctors and many baby bible books… all pointing to the same direction… ‘kids will do fine… just throw all the different languages with them.. they will understand..’..

right now… the only language we are all having difficulty with … so shamefully to admit… is ‘Bahasa’… we kinda ignored the local Bahasa thinking that he will pick it up as he grows… obviously it wasn’t the case… the only person who seems to make sense with the local language is my husband.. (though 1/2 the time he has difficulty finding the right words himself)… and now with Jadon doing Bahasa in primary 1…  he will often turned to me and furiously said: ‘mama!.. why you don’t know!!.. all my friends mummy speak Bahasa..!!’

and yesterday, he came home with Bahasa homework … on the books, he had to name the photos…

1.    ‘comb’ =  me and him looked at each other… have no absolute clue
2.    ‘toothbrush’ = I told him to write ‘tusuk gigi’… and I was utterly confident that I was right…
3.    ‘soap’ = we both were like ‘soap too right?’.. but it has 5 missing characters blank so obviously its not..
4.    ‘nail clipper’ = I went ‘what’s it call in Mandarin?’
5.    etc..

there were about 6/7 questions … and I think I only managed to answer like 1 or something… hubby came home, checked the answers and laughed at both of us like there’s no tomorrow….  while every of his classmates have no problem… Bahasa homework has turned into our family laughing time…

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With Piaget students celebrating the Teachers’ day on Monday, 31 August … and that my boys are not in school to show their appreciation, well…. on behalf of my 2 sons, Jadon and Elson, I am dedicating the poem and this blog post to ALL teachers of Singapore Piaget Academy Medan..

Teachers

Paint their minds and guide their thoughts
Share their achievements and advise their faults

Inspire a Love of knowledge and truth
As you light the path which leads our youth

For our future brightens with each lesson you teach
Each smile you lengthen  Each goal you help reach

For the dawn of each poet each philosopher and king
Begins with a Teacher
And the wisdom they bring

by: Kevin William Huff

and special thanks to;

Ms Renalyn who has great teaching skills, BIG heart and been a great influence to both my boys life… when they both first entered the school with just  A, B, C… 1, 2, 3… within a short time that they spent with you … you have transformed them into a great reader, a true eager learner and an awesome calculator (by the way readers, she comes highly recommended for K1 students.. hahahha)…

Ms Riris.. thank you for being there for everything… any questions, concerns, you will always have an answer and are always readily to help..  your fun, energetic, loving nature has made my boys demand going to school even when they are sick… you mean a lot to us…

Ms Florinda.. without you, the class will not be such a joy to be in… you ensure that the class go smoothly without a hinch… boys are boys..I bet they had been a handful to you.. but your patience and that pretty smile of yours has surely brighten up their time in the classroom..

Ms Rita.. a big THANK YOU for the ways you have care, the things you have taught and do …. and for giving your heart so unselfishly…..  you have make learning an adventure to Jadon which was exactly what he needed… the hundreds of hugs that you have given to my son will never be forgotten…

Ms Pida.. your encouragement, your kindness, your constant understanding …. and for always being there for Jadon simply showed him that you care… as a mum whom find it real hard to do just half of what you have done, I’m grateful for your hard work in helping Jadon to grow …

Ms QiuLi and Ms Xie ….. oooh… you both are truly ’special’… ‘amazing’ to be exact!… no kids in this world will not not want to be your students.. you have turned Mandarin, a language that they dislike so horribly into one that they are embracing with interest… xie xie

and to all the new MSss…..  this new academic year has been going great .... both boys are constantly bragging about how much they are enjoying their time in their new classes… Thank you

and to Mr Raja, the principle… when I was young, a principle is one person that if I saw you coming, I will walked to the left if you walked to the right… but now… the kids are simply running towards you… you have made the school into a warm fun environment for learning and not one to be feared as remembered by me…

and here below is something that both the boys have promised…( just hope that they can keep their words… )

My School Promise

Each day I’ll do my best
And I won’t do any less.
My work will always please me,
And I won’t accept a mess.

I’ll color very carefully,
My writing will be neat.
And I will not be happy,
Till my papers are complete.

I’ll always do my homework,
And try my best on every test.
I won’t forget my promise,
To do my very best!

www.kinderthemes.com

‘Happy Teacher’s Day’

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I have been warned… by many many friends and relatives… with my boys being younger than most of the people I know… I have been repeatedly told by tens of people.. that.. ‘oh… kindergarten is still ok… wait till JD in Primary’..  whenever I heard that.. I will always said to myself like ‘how bad can it gets…’ …  and with that.. I never really asked what exactly was all the troubled about… as I am not the talk and asked type of person… I’m the quiet and just listened kind…

but oh lord… I am so so so not prepared for this… first week went by smoothly… then he fell ill.. and 3rd week came… haaiiii…. my life had been a havoc… I am exhausted… my blood pressure has probably gone up…. my appetite has been suppressed… my personal life turned chaos.. my work got to be re-scheduled … and obviously I’m STRESSED…

On his 2nd Friday back to school, the day that he went back to class after his absent of illness, his note book stated ‘Test for Bahasa and Mandarin on Wednesday’… so over the weekends, I prepared it with him… then Monday came.. a reminder for Spelling test on Friday… Tuesday came… I was happy that Wed tests are prepared and that I will be free after.. Wednesday came.. I started with the spelling test preparation… Thursday came.. note book said English Test 1 on next Tuesday… Friday came.. Mandarin test for next Wed… it just goes on and on and on… I can tell that.. JD has no worries… it’s me that’s up to my neck…

so over the last weekend… I sat down.. and went through his school works to get better understanding… after what happened to my life last week… I was like… that’s it..!! we need organization… else me and him will have problems…

well… what I found out was that… the tests were actually simple stuff…. like a  quick revision to ensure that the students understood the whole week’s work.. which after understanding the whole concept… I am quite happy and agreed with the school arrangements…

so.. for the moment, I am taking it easy… coz so far, he is coping ok… with note sheets stating clearly for me to see his work schedule for the whole term… I think he will be fine… it’s just gonna be.. taking it easy… constantly reminding myself that education should be fun….. so for now it’s like … ‘test mar test lor… so what’… hahhaha… well, so far for this 4th week.. it seems to be working out well ….

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Just as I wrote in my previous post of how Medan’s Piaget school is taking tedious precautions against swine flu…. darn… my both sons are down with high fever …

Friday 17 July 2009

@ 2:45pm: Jadon came home informing me how 2 of his friends have slight fever and being sent home…

@ 6:00pm: Jadon’s body can be felt warm…

Saturday 18 July 2009

@ 2:oo am: Jadon is down with fever and having slight cough with body temperature of 39C …

I didn’t think much,…  so I nursed him with Tempra and cough medicine… only that his temperature wouldn’t come down..

@ 4:00 pm: his temperature is at 40C… by then.. we went over to Gleni Hospital Medan… and see a paediatrician who did not take any body temperature… and simply prescribed him with antibiotics… I was worrying rather sickly as often.. if the fever is caused by cough.. his throat will be red and that it is nothing for me to be worried about…but his throat is fine..  and now.. with his body being resistant to the medication, he is definitely infected with a virus.. as I have suspected and confirmed by the doctor…

Sunday 19 July 2009

Jadon’s body temperature is still in the range of 38.5C-39.8C and hardly come down… should his temperature remains this high… I really think I have to whisk him off to Singapore for the treatment ….  I am hoping to fly back to Bangkok.. but with his high body temperature… I doubt he will ever pass the immigration in Singapore and most likely be quarantine first …. however… apart from the high body temperature… he has no other symptoms which I am hoping for the best and that…  it’s just some common viruses…

throughout the day, Tempra is being given to him every 5 hours…

I sincerely hope that it’s not the deadly swine flu… but my sister-in-law received messages that several children in Piaget are down with high fever and some have been tested positive for the Swine Flu…  I can’t get confirmation from school since it’s a public holiday… but I hate rumors so I am not gonna make any judgment from the messages…

I then did an online Swine Flu Symptoms Checker and the result pointed out that… they can’t confirm and that Jadon needs further health check….

Monday 20 July 2009,

@ 3:00am: Jadon’s being given last shot of Tempra with body temperature at 38.5C

@ 7:00am: Jadon’s body temperature is finally down to normal at 37C BUT Elson is now officially infected…..

I am now waiting to see Jadon’s condition within the next few hours… should his temperature remains not over 38C, I am quite sure it is not swine flu….  nevertheless… I am gonna quarrantine both boys to home for the whole week… and they just have to do home schooling with this worn out mummy….

should your kids are down with fever, I suggests seeing either Professor Syaril Pasaribu or Dr Chairul Yoel @ Gleni Hospital…  both are paediatrician whom I would consider up-to-date specialist… often seen attending the latest seminar whom I have known them relatively well… and both specialize in virus infection…. (the one I saw was the only one available on the day and time, hence I have no other choice)

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